Our Paths Cross Again
by urbasic
Summary: When Spencer flies in to help Hanna plan her wedding with Caleb, the last thing she was expecting was to have to do it alongside her ex-boyfriend Toby. And seeing him again may just bring up old feelings... maybe ones that never really went away.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Congratulations!"

Hanna Marin grinned enormously when she saw her brunette best friends standing there. She launched herself into the girl's arms and gave her a long hug.

"Thank you so much, Spence!"

"I would've called or texted, but I wanted to say it to you in person," Spencer explained.

"Don't even worry about it," Hanna shook her head. "I'm just glad that you're here."

"And don't you worry one bit... I'm totally on it with the wedding planning," Spencer told her.

"Yeah, we've got a board of everything we want for the wedding—" Hanna began.

"Say no more. I'm on it. I'll make all the arrangements," Spencer said.

"God... I really appreciate all your help," Hanna gushed.

"You're one of my best friends, Han. Of course I'm here to help," Spencer told her.

"I would've asked Emily to be my maid of honor, but I knew you'd do all the wedding planning for me," Hanna joked.

"Shut up!" Spencer laughed. "You're lucky I love to do this."

"If you love it so much, maybe you should get on doing it for yourself, too..." Hanna bit her lip.

"Are you asking me if I'm thinking about getting married?" Spencer rolled her eyes. "Come on now, Han! I'm not even in a relationship right now."

"Why not? You're gorgeous and single! Some guy is out there. You don't have to marry him, but what about a relationship?" Hanna asked.

"I'll get into a relationship when I find a guy I actually want to be with," Spencer told her.

"Are you _ever_ going to want to be with a guy again?" Hanna asked.

"Of course I will... eventually," Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

"Not since Toby," Hanna pointed out.

"That is not true!" Spencer argued. "I've dated a few guys in D.C."

"But nothing was ever serious," Hanna reminded.

"So what? Those guys just weren't right for me. I still dated them," Spencer told her. "I'll stay with a guy if he's right for me. None of these people have been that. Sorry that I'm not engaged already," she said sarcastically.

Just then, Caleb walked into the living room of their place. He smiled at both of the girls, and then leaned in to give Hanna a kiss to greet her.

"Hey, babe! Hey, Spencer! It's good to see you again," Caleb smiled politely. "Did you just get into town?"

"Yeah, I rushed straight over here to see Hanna. I'm super excited to start helping you guys with the wedding planning!" Spencer exclaimed.

"Oh yeah! Thanks so much for helping out, by the way. That's really cool of you," Caleb grinned.

But there was a look of nervousness on his face that Hanna picked up.

"Babe, is everything alright?" Hanna asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "I know when you're nervous, and now is one of those times."

"Han, can we talk in private?" Caleb asked, biting his lip.

"I'm planning your wedding! Am I not a part of all the discussions? Unless it's your sexy talk... then, you can keep it to yourselves, and you _never_ have to let me know," Spencer laughed.

"Sorry, Spencer. I really need to borrow her quickly," Caleb apologized. "Come on, Hanna."

Caleb and Hanna went over to the other side of the room, leaving a frustrated Spencer alone. She was really intrigued and wanted to know what they were talking about.

Meanwhile, with Hanna and Caleb...

"Spit it out! What's going on, Caleb?" Hanna demanded.

"It's not a big deal, I was just afraid to say it in front of Spencer because I didn't know how she would react..." Caleb muttered. "The thing is, I've figured out who I want my best man to be."

"Okay?" Hanna furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would that concern Spencer?"

" _Because_ , Hanna... the guy I picked is _Toby_ ," he confessed.

" _Toby_?" Hanna's eyes went wide.

"He's my closest friend, okay?" Caleb explained. "I couldn't imagine not picking him to be my best man. And I know it's going to be hard for Spencer, but I can't just not pick him for our wedding because of that..."

"No, I get it. And there's nothing wrong with who you picked, I'm just worried for her," Hanna sighed. "She was really torn up when they broke up, and they haven't seen each other since. I'm afraid of what seeing him again is going to do to her, but she can't avoid it forever, can she? Maybe it'll be good for them to see each other again."

Caleb nodded his head.

"I think we should tell her," Caleb said, biting his lip.

"You think she can take it right now?" Hanna asked.

"She's a strong girl," Caleb shrugged. "Besides, Toby is flying in tomorrow morning."

"What?" Hanna asked, wide-eyed. "Tomorrow morning? Why is he flying in so soon? The wedding isn't for a while, Caleb!"

"I know, I know..." he muttered. "But the thing is, he offered to help with the wedding planning, too. He really wanted to."

"Toby Cavanaugh wanted to help plan our wedding?" Hanna scoffed. "That seems off!"

"It's weird, but maybe the guy just wants to be involved in planning his friend's wedding," Caleb shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, it doesn't matter why he wants to help, because he does, and he is. He's flying in tomorrow morning, and I can't change that. So, what are we gonna do about it?"

"There's nothing we _can_ do except tell Spencer the truth," Hanna sighed. "She's going to have to work with Toby to plan this wedding. Do you think she can take _that_ right now?"

"I don't know... I really don't," Caleb sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We can tell her together, if you want."

"What the hell? Did you think I was going to tell her alone?" Hanna rolled her eyes.

Caleb chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

" _Hello_?" Spencer called from the other side of the room. "How long are you two lovebirds going to isolate me from the conversation? You two know that I don't like secrets! So, what's up?"

"We're coming now, Spencer," Hanna told her.

"Please don't tell me that was you two finishing off your sex or something," Spencer joked. "I hope that was the right kind of coming..."

"I happen to think the 'right' kind of coming has to do with sex," Caleb joked, causing Hanna to pinch him. " _Ow_! Babe, what was that for?"

"Making a sex joke right now," Hanna angrily said.

"Why is it so serious right now that he can't make a sex joke?" Spencer asked.

"It's not that big of a deal, Spencer, but we need to talk to you..." Hanna muttered.

"Okay. What's going on?" Spencer asked, looking over at them. "I'm glad to know you guys aren't having some type of silent sex. That was my worst case scenario."

"Good, then if that's as bad as it can get, you won't be so upset when you hear our news," Caleb smiled.

"Shut up, Caleb," Hanna rolled her eyes.

The two of them walked back over to the other side of the room to join Spencer.

"Come on! I've been left in the dark long enough. What the hell is going on?" Spencer asked desperately.

"Okay, okay... the news is that Caleb picked a best man," Hanna said.

"So what?" Spencer furrowed her eyebrows. "Am I supposed to be devastated that he did that?"

"Well, his best man is Toby, so you tell me how you feel about that..." Hanna ripped the bandage off, biting her lip.

All Spencer said was, "Oh..."

But her eyes were saying other things. Complex things.

"That's okay," Spencer nodded her head, even though it was paining her on the inside. "I knew I'd have to see him again eventually. So, it's okay. I can deal with him for like... one or two nights. The wedding rehearsal, and then the real thing."

"But here's the thing... it's not just that," Caleb revealed. "Toby's flying in tomorrow morning. He wants to help us with the wedding planning, too."

Spencer's eyes went wide.

" _What did you just say_?" she demanded.

"He wants to, uh... help us with the wedding planning," Caleb repeated, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Ugh! No, I heard what you said, Caleb!" Spencer cried. "But I can't believe it! You want me to work with my ex-boyfriend to plan your wedding? _That's_ a little much to ask for..."

"We get it if you don't want to help anymore—" Hanna started.

"No we don't!" Caleb cried. "Speak for yourself, babe! I was really looking forward to seeing what she could do for us... I trust her to make it awesome."

"Shut up, Caleb! This is about _her_ ," Hanna punched him playfully. "Sorry that he's so insensitive about it. He just doesn't realize how hard it'd be for you to have to do all that stuff with Toby. So, again... we understand if you don't want to help plan the wedding anymore. Well, at least _I_ understand. Caleb's a different story."

"No, I'm sorry..." Caleb muttered. "I get it, too. Seeing an ex can be hard."

"Stop it," Spencer sighed. "I'm not going to quit helping you plan the wedding just because I have to do it with Toby. He's not a bad guy. I won't lie, it's going to be hard to see him again after our break up, but I'll do it because I love both of you, and I want you both to have a happy and perfect wedding day."

"You're still in?" Hanna smiled brightly.

"Thank _God_..." Caleb grinned. "Don't get me wrong, Toby's an awesome dude, but I don't trust him at all when it comes to wedding planning."

"Actually, he's pretty good with his hands," Spencer reminisced.

"Ew!" Caleb cried, raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes. "Why are you telling us about... _that_?"

"Oh my God, Caleb..." Spencer rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean anything relating to sex. I meant that he's good with stuff like building and setting up. He was a carpenter, after all."

"I'm sure he was good with his hands in sex, too... he's got those big hands. Am I right, girl?" Hanna grinned.

"I am _not_ here for this," Spencer rolled her eyes again.

"Sorry..." Hanna bit her lip.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and all your encouraging words!**

Chapter 2

" _Cavanaugh_! Hey, man! It's so good to see ya," Caleb grinned, high-fiving his friend as he emerged from the airport doors with his suitcase.

"Hey!" Toby grinned back. "It's great to see you! I'm really excited about being here for this."

"I didn't know you were the type of guy who got excited when it came to wedding planning, but hey... no judgments, right?" Caleb chuckled.

Toby shrugged his shoulders.

"It's to help with your big day, so I wanted to be a part of this," he explained.

"How was the flight?" Caleb asked as they started walking towards his car.

"Short," Toby answered, chuckling. "A flight from Rosewood to New York? Man, I could've just driven myself down here in like three hours if you had let me..."

"No way, it was just a little gift to you," Caleb said. "Don't even worry about it. Hanna and I have been doing _great_ with our finances. We're ready to blow a ton of it on making this wedding the best possible."

Toby stuck his suitcase into the trunk of Caleb's car, and then got into the passenger seat.

"So, when are we getting this planning started?" Toby asked, looking over at his friend.

"Oh, uh... I thought you'd want to take a few hours of rest," Caleb furrowed his eyebrows.

"Actually, I'm not tired at all," Toby said enthusiastically.

"Damn, man... you really are _that_ excited to plan?" Caleb asked, surprised.

"Well, you asked me to be your best man, and I want to honor that commitment," Toby told him. "I'm not going to let you down, I promise."

"I never thought you were gonna let me down, man," Caleb chuckled as he started driving the car back to his house.

But Toby wasn't _that_ enthusiastic about wedding planning... Truth was, he wanted to see Spencer Hastings again.

Once they arrived at the house, Caleb went to the trunk and got Toby's suitcase out for him.

"You can stay in the second guest bedroom of our place for now, but when our relatives start flying in... well, mainly Hanna's... we're gonna have to give them the rooms. _But_ , don't worry at all, because there's a hotel nearby, and we've already arranged for you guys to go there afterwards," Caleb explained.

"Is Spencer staying in the other guest bedroom?" Toby asked curiously.

Caleb chuckled, looking over at his friend.

"I should've known why you were so giddy about this planning thing!" Caleb smiled smugly. "You wanna see Spencer again, don't you? What? Do you miss her or something?"

"Shut up... I was just asking a question," Toby rolled his eyes. "I'm asking because it's gonna be _weird_ to see my ex-girlfriend again. We dated for a really long time, Caleb. It was hard for me when I realized that it was over."

"Oh... sorry, man," Caleb said sympathetically. "I feel you. In that time that Hanna and I were broken up, it was really weird to even be in the same room as her again." He patted Toby's back and asked, "Are you nervous to see her again?"

"Well, yeah," Toby confessed. "Of course I am. It's the first time I've seen her since it happened..."

"Don't worry too much. I'll be right by your side the whole time, and so will Hanna be," Caleb reminded him. "That should reduce the awkwardness, right?"

"Yeah _, sure_ ," Toby scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Hey!" Caleb cried, offended. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It _means_ that you two being in the room just means it'll be filled with sex jokes," Toby smirked.

Caleb pouted his lip as Toby took the suitcase from his hands and started dragging it into the house. Toby took his first steps inside the building. When he looked forward, he locked eyes with _Spencer Hastings_.

She was sitting on the couch, drinking a hot cup of coffee. It nearly fell out of her hands when she saw him, even though she knew exactly what was coming when Caleb left for the airport to pick him up.

"Hey," Toby greeted in a breathy voice.

"H-hey," she greeted nervously, her eyes still wide from seeing him.

"Move over, Cavanaugh!" Caleb yelled, pushing his friend to the side as he entered his house. "Where the hell is Hanna? Doesn't she know it's rude to not greet our house guest and best man!"

Hanna rolled her eyes as she walked down the stairs, "Coming, coming... stop being such a bitch, Caleb."

The blonde smiled happily when she saw Toby standing there.

"Well, hey there, Toby Cavanaugh!" Hanna greeted excitedly. "We're glad to have you!"

"Have you spent a little too much time in the south? 'Cause you're talking like you're from there," Toby joked.

"Shut it," Hanna rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "I haven't even _been_ to the south, and I never will be. That whole thing is like a blur of states... and then Texas. But I'll have you know that I've been nowhere except New York since I moved here. Besides business trips, but those are mostly around Europe."

"Well, thank you for the complete breakdown of your live," Toby chuckled, and then walked closer to Hanna to give her a hug. "I've missed your humor."

Hanna looked over at Spencer, who was staying mute on the couch.

"Spence, why don't you make the poor kid some coffee and talk about your life in D.C. in detail," Hanna smirked, reaching out and practically pulling Spencer up from the couch.

"Han," Spencer rolled her eyes. "I don't think Toby is interested—"

"No, I am," Toby smiled brightly and smugly. "I'd love to hear what you've been up to in D.C. And, I could really use a cup of coffee."

"Just _wonderful_..." Spencer muttered sarcastically.

She and Toby walked towards the coffee machine together, while Hanna and Caleb headed upstairs. Spencer filled the cup with hot coffee as they stared at each other.

"If I'm being honest, I'm really happy to see you again, Spencer," Toby told her.

"And why is that?" she asked, handing him the steaming coffee cup.

"I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders. "It's just been... uh, weird without you in my life."

"Toby, don't start..." she shook her head.

"I'm not starting anything!" he put a hand up in surrender.

"So what, you want to be friends or something?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, I do," he nodded his head. "So, can we try that? Being friends?"

"Well, we do have to plan an entire wedding together, so..." Spencer smiled.

"I'm taking that as a yes!" Toby exclaimed.

He set his coffee cup down and hugged her, much to her surprise. She was started by it, but hugged him back. When they pulled back, it was rather awkward. Both of them looked in opposite directions to avoid eye contact.

But then, Toby asked, "So, how's D.C. been? Tell me about it!"

"It's good," she responded, nodding her head. She took another sip of her coffee. "I mean, I spend most of time focusing on my career, so... yeah. I've been focused on my job."

"That's great," Toby smiled, nodding his head as well. "There's nothing wrong with a career-driven woman. I think it's amazing of you."

"Thank you," she smiled back. "How have you been? Are you still patrolling the streets of Rosewood?"

Toby chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm still a cop," he answered. "I know it's not much, but—"

"No, that isn't what I meant when I said that," she shook her head, but he didn't look very convinced.

"It's fine if you did," he shrugged his shoulders. "Being a cop isn't much compared to what you're doing out there in the political world, Spence. I'm not denying that."

"Toby..." she furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, no... I don't even know _why_ I'm still a cop, to be honest," he confessed. "I want to do more."

"Then do more," she told him. "You don't have to settle."

"You know I always wanted to make it with being a carpenter," he said, staring at the floor.

"Then why don't you?" she asked.

"I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders. "Truth is, I don't know..."

Spencer pressed her lips together, watching him carefully.

"Was I stupid to think that we could make this work?" Toby asked, sighing. "I mean, as friends? You and I being friends?"

"It's only a crazy thought when you put it like that," she said. "You don't have to put up a front and try to be my best friend just because you're Caleb's best man. We can stay civil for the sake of Hanna and Caleb's wedding, and then we'll part ways. Then, we don't have to do this anymore... we don't have to play this game."

She took her coffee cup and walked away from him, back to the living room couch.

Toby sighed, scratching his head. That was _not_ how he wanted this conversation to go.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What the hell is with the pouty face, Cavanaugh?"

Toby looked up and saw Caleb coming towards him. He sighed and sat up on the couch.

"I don't know... _Spencer_ ," he sighed.

"Sounds like you _do_ know," Caleb chuckled, and took a seat next to him. "What is it?"

"Well, we talked when I first got here," he explained. "And it felt like everything was fine again. I thought we were on good terms, but we started talking about our break up, and then everything went downhill from there..."

"Talking about a break up can be rough," Caleb nodded his head. "Maybe you should leave the past in the past."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Toby asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "I should just forget about Spencer?"

"No, I'm not saying that," Caleb answered. "I'm saying that you should leave your break up in the past and just focus on now. You can be civil with her. You don't have to talk about all that hard stuff."

"So, I'm just supposed to try and stay civil with her the whole time?" Toby asked. "After everything we went through together, now she's just somebody that I have to work to stay civil around?"

"Okay, Toby... maybe you need to figure out what you really want from Spencer," Caleb told him. "If you want something more with her again, then you don't have to just work to stay at the minimum of being civil with her. You can rebuild your friendship... and if she feels the same way, _then_ you can bring the past to the present and work through all the issues you had before. But you seem to be at stage one. Figure it out: Do you want to be with her?"

"Caleb, I just saw her again for the first time in years! How the hell am I supposed to know what I want?" Toby asked.

"Because deep down, you know what you want," Caleb said. "I denied it for a long time, but somewhere inside of me, I _always_ knew that I wanted to be with Hanna."

"I'm so confused with myself... and her... and everything," Toby sighed. "All I know is that Spencer is _so_ important to me. And it's really sucked ass that we just stopped talking after we broke up."

"Well, you're both going to be in town together for a while, so you've got some time to figure things out," Caleb said.

"You're right," Toby nodded his head. "Maybe I should work on what I came to town for, which was to help you plan your wedding."

Caleb smiled, patting Toby's back.

"Thanks, man," Caleb smiled. "I'll see if Spencer's up, and the two of you can spend some quality time planning."

"Of course Spencer's up," Toby said, smiling to himself. "She's always up early."

"You would know..." Caleb chuckled as he started walking upstairs.

As Caleb continued walking upstairs, Hanna started walking downstairs.

"Sorry, babe!" Hanna cried in panic, quickly pecking Caleb's lips before she continued to race down the stairs. "I totally forgot that my boss told me to get to work early today, so... I've gotta rush out now. Bye, Toby!"

Toby chuckled lightly, waving at Hanna as she rushed out the door.

"Yeah, that's the woman I'm marrying," Caleb grinned, and then resumed walking.

In a few minutes, Caleb returned downstairs with Spencer by his side. Toby looked up nervously.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," Spencer greeted back awkwardly, sitting down across from him.

"Well, this is very awkward..." Caleb muttered, scratching his head. "Um, I'm gonna grab a shower before I head off to work, too. I think Hanna e-mailed you the plans we have for the ceremony, right?"

"Yeah, yeah she did," Spencer nodded her head. "I'll make sure everything you two want happens, down to the very last detail."

"Thanks, Spencer," Caleb smiled sincerely, and then headed back upstairs to shower.

As soon as he was gone, Toby looked over at Spencer.

"Hey, can we talk about what happened yesterday?" Toby asked, looking at her apologetically.

"Toby, there's nothing to talk about. Let's just plan this wedding like we agreed to do... civilly," she said.

"Spencer, come on!" Toby begged. "I want to apologize for that, okay? I really wanted to come here and have a good conversation with you, not talk about our break up."

"Nothing ever goes as planned, does it?" Spencer said bitterly.

" _Spencer_! I'm blaming myself for how things went down yesterday, but I'm realizing that it wasn't just me," Toby folded his arms. "You don't _want_ to be friends again. You just want to get this wedding planning done."

"Well, can you blame me?" Spencer furrowed her eyebrows. "Most people wouldn't jump for joy at the idea of having to spend this much time with their ex again..."

"So, that's all I am to you now?" Toby asked, feeling the bitterness rising in himself as well. "I'm just some guy that you dated in your past?"

"Yeah, on paper, that's what it really was, isn't it?" Spencer spat. "We dated, it didn't work out, we broke up."

Toby's heart hurt when he heard her talking like that. Talking as if they were just some people who dated, like any other meaningless relationship... Toby felt it was more.

Spencer was the first and only girl he had ever truly been in love with. They had been through so much together, too. So, to hear Spencer talk about their relationship like it didn't mean anything to her? It hurt.

"That's all you think of what we were?" Toby demanded, looking her straight in the eyes with bitterness.

"Toby, why are you acting like this?" Spencer asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Why am _I_ acting like this? Spencer, you're the one who just admitted that you thought our relationship was meaningless," he furrowed his eyebrows. "I've been trying to make it work as friends since I got here, and sure, I got a little worked up when we talked about our break up, but I've still been trying. And then you say something like _that_?"

Spencer pressed her lips together, but Toby wasn't waiting around to have this conversation anymore. He got up from his seat and stormed up the stairs to her room.

Immediately, Spencer felt guilt building up in her stomach. She didn't even know why she said something like that to him, even if they were broken up.

But she was too stubborn to walk upstairs and fix things, so instead, she opened up Hanna's e-mail and began reading about the wedding details.

* * *

In the evening, Hanna was finally done with work, and she returned home. She opened the door, smiling at Spencer when she saw her sitting on the couch.

"Hey, girl!" Hanna exclaimed, putting her purse down and rushing over to the couch to sit next to Spencer. "Are you still working on it?"

Spencer nodded her head.

"I took a few coffee and TV breaks, of course..." she laughed. "But I read through your e-mail, and then searched for the best providers in town that offer what you want. So, we can look through and make a decision on who we want to go with—"

"That's great!" Hanna exclaimed. "...But why isn't Toby here?"

"Oh, uh..." Spencer bit her lip. "We had a little argument, and he kinda stormed upstairs."

" _Kinda_?" Hanna asked.

"Okay, fine. He really did storm upstairs, and before we started working on anything, but it's no big deal," Spencer told her.

"Spence! It _feels_ like a big deal to me. I thought you two were going to try and make it work as friends. I thought you'd pull it off and have a good time planning together," Hanna said.

"That's a little too idealistic, Han. He's my ex-boyfriend. You didn't actually expect our time planning together to be rainbows and sunshine, did you?" Spencer asked.

"I knew there would be bumps, but I thought that you were both mature enough to handle it properly," Hanna answered.

"Well, I'm sorry that I let you down," Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

"Why are you being so cold towards him?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know, okay!?" Spencer cried, running a hand down her face. "We broke up, he left, and it was really hard for me. Now, to see him back here trying to be friends again? It's not fun!"

Hanna sighed.

"What happened today?" Hanna asked. "I mean, why did you fight again?"

"I don't know... I was just being an ass today," Spencer confessed. "I told him that our relationship was meaningless, and that we were just people who dated and broke up—"

"Why did you say that?" Hanna asked.

"I guess... to hurt him. But only because our break up hurt me, okay? And I was sitting there at Georgetown, crying my eyes out every night, and he just left me," Spencer explained.

"And you really didn't think that he was hurting over your break up, too?" Hanna asked.

"How would I know? I never saw him hurting," Spencer shrugged.

"Well, he never saw you hurting either, Spence!" Hanna cried. "Both of you hurt each other! He loved you so much. How did you actually think that your break up wouldn't hurt him?"

"In all honesty, it felt good to see him upset over our break up today," Spencer confessed. "I knew that he cared about it as much as I did—"

"Yeah, but now, he thinks _you_ don't care," Hanna reminded. "Spence, why don't you just end this? End the problems, and go make things right with him."

Spencer sighed, biting her lip hard. She knew that Hanna was right. Hurting Toby for no reason was just an asshole move. She shut her laptop and got up from the couch.

* * *

"Toby... hey, it's me."

She heard a loud sigh before footsteps approached the door and opened it. When it opened, he was standing there, unamused.

"What do you want, Spencer?" Toby asked, folding his arms.

"I'm sorry," she immediately said. "That's never been the easiest thing for me to say to anyone, but you know that. And I'm sorry."

"For what?" he challenged.

"Fine, if you want to make this harder, just fine. I deserve that," she nodded her head. "I'm sorry for saying that our relationship meant nothing to me. When we broke up, everything fell apart for me, and I cried too much about it. There was rarely a day where I didn't think about you... and us. And you were gone, but kept living your life. I just felt like you didn't care about us, either—"

Toby tilted his head to the side.

"How could you think that?" he asked, giving her a sad look. "We were together for so long... and at least to me, it meant way more than just two people who dated and broke up. I loved you so much. I was hurting just as badly. I was always so empty. And I know I said that I love Rosewood, but I realized that the only reason I fell in love with the place over the years was because I fell in love with you there. And we were together most of the time there."

Tears began rolling down Spencer's cheeks.

"How did we get here?" Spencer asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I thought that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, but people are right when they say that nothing works out the way that you thought it would."

Spencer wiped her tears, and then locked eyes with him.

"Just so you know the truth, our relationship _did_ mean something to me... I don't know how you could believe it meant nothing to me, either," she laughed bitterly. "I've never loved somebody the way I loved you. And it's so hard for me to look at you now and not think about how much I loved you."

"Well, I'm glad we got that out on the table," he told her. "Is this closure... for you?"

"I don't know," she said, scratching her head.

Toby thought about what Caleb said. They could work on moving forward from their break up, and this was a good start. But they could also take this as closure on their relationship, and just move forward as friends, couldn't they?

Toby wasn't sure what he wanted. But he got up from the guest bed and started walking towards a crying Spencer, which broke his heart even further.

He wasn't sure if this was appropriate, but he did it anyways—he placed his thumbs onto Spencer's cheeks, gently brushing the tears off of her face. They stood there like that for a while, both unsure of their next move.

In all honesty, Toby wanted to kiss her right then and there. And maybe he would've done it, had the sound of Hanna yelling hadn't cut them off.

"Pizza's here!" Hanna announced.

Immediately, Toby backed away from Spencer. They stared at each other awkwardly.

"We should go down," Spencer said.

He nodded his head, and followed her down the stairs.

Toby was pretty sure that Spencer felt it, too... felt that she wanted to kiss him, or at least sensed that he wanted to kiss her. But he had to let it go for now. Things were already getting complicated.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Toby was laying in bed, thinking about the moment he shared with Spencer. It was... _weird_. He couldn't believe that he had managed to compose himself enough to sit down across from her while eating pizza calmly. Not to mention, Hanna and Caleb were right there. He had wanted to kiss her so badly while he was in her room, and he had a feeling that she felt the same way, in that moment at least.

It was hard for him to sleep that night. He kept wondering where they were going to go from here on out. He felt like a teenager who had butterflies in his stomach when his crush talked to him again. Only this time, it happened to be his ex-girlfriend, who he was supposed to be over by now.

He wasn't sure about anything, though. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to be romantically involved with her again, and he sure as hell wasn't sure if she even felt anything. He wasn't sure if he was getting his old feelings for her mixed up with the present, either. All he knew was that when he accepted when Caleb asked him if he wanted to help plan the wedding, he really wanted to see her again.

* * *

"Morning," Toby greeted, walking down the stairs.

"Morning," Caleb and Hanna chorused.

Everyone was already down in the kitchen. Caleb was watching TV, and Hanna was reading a fashion magazine. Both of them were doing their respective things while eating their breakfasts. Meanwhile, Spencer was inevitably by the coffee machine, pouring herself another fresh cup.

Toby wasn't sure if it was the fact that Spencer was by the coffee machine or if he really just wanted a cup of coffee, but he made his way over there.

"Hey," Toby said quietly, beginning to fix himself a cup of coffee.

Spencer swallowed hard, turning her head to look up at him slowly.

"Hey," she greeted back with the same mildly-audible volume.

"Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday, or..." he started, biting his lip awkwardly.

"Um, what do you mean?" she asked, trying to avoid eye contact now. "I thought that we talked through everything already."

Toby realized that this wasn't a conversation that she wanted to have, and maybe he didn't want to, either. It would definitely be awkward. Plus, now wasn't really the time for that, with Hanna and Caleb sitting right across the room from them.

"Okay," he nodded his head. "So, I know I didn't really help with the planning yesterday because I was mad, but I'm ready to help now."

"That's good," Spencer gave him a smile, letting him know that she was ready to be civil and normal, or at least try to be. "I'll catch you up on Hanna's e-mail, and everything I've done so far."

"Alright, thanks," Toby nodded his head.

Hanna finally got up from the couch. She started walking towards the kitchen, but was wiggling her eyebrows suggestively the whole time.

"I came here to get more breakfast, but I'm not smelling bacon and eggs anymore, I'm smelling some _serious_ tension!" Hanna exclaimed, laughing. "What the hell is this? Did something happen between you two that I don't know about?"

Spencer rolled her eyes, looking away from Hanna.

"No, Han, nothing happened..." she muttered. "We were just talking about _your_ wedding."

"My wedding? I love my the sound of that," Hanna grinned. "Are you two buddy-buddy again yet?"

"Yeah, we're good," Toby nodded his head, smiling at Spencer. "I think we're ready for some friendly wedding planning, aren't you?"

Spencer furrowed her eyebrows.

"Not the particular word choice that I would use, but yes," she nodded back.

Hanna didn't seem to be buying any of this, but she decided to drop the subject. Instead, she finished her breakfast and headed off to work. Soon after, Caleb left for work as well, leaving Spencer and Toby by themselves to do the wedding planning.

They were sitting on the couch together. Spencer was flipping through a catalog filled with different types of flowers. She smiled to herself, wondering how good it felt for Hanna and Caleb to be so settled with each other. Hell, they were _getting married_! That was a _huge_ deal. They had come so far since they first started dating in high school, and were doing something that Spencer had never seen herself doing with anyone except... Toby, of course. But, it was crazy how things changed. Here they were, as just friends who were planning their mutual friends' wedding together.

"The guy e-mailed me back," Toby announced. "The park is government-owned, but he said he'd be happy to let it be used for a wedding."

"That's great!" Spencer exclaimed, looking over at him. "It'll be adorable. The outdoors are their thing, you know."

"I know," Toby said, staring at the floor. "Caleb told me all about it." He paused for a moment before asking, "What was our thing?"

The question was unsettling for Spencer. It sent chills down her spine to think about all the moments they shared while they were dating. There were a lot of things that she could say were 'their thing' while they were dating, but she didn't even want to answer. It was such an unusual question. And she knew Toby well... she knew that he wanted to talk about what happened the night before.

"Toby..." she muttered.

"I'm thinking Scrabble and motels, what about you?" he asked, smiling so innocently that she almost believed he didn't have an ulterior motive.

"Stop it," she swallowed hard. "Why do you keep doing this?"

"What?" he asked. "Am I not allowed to mention the fact that we used to date? Because it happened, you know."

"You think I _don't_ know?" she rolled her eyes. "I was there, too, if you remember. It takes two people." She rolled her eyes again and asked, "Why can't you just focus on the task at hand? I'm sorry that I even was proud of you for sorting the location of the ceremony out."

"Come on! Hanna and Caleb are gone now," Toby told her.

She felt a knot growing in her stomach. What did he mean by that? In the more innocent way, he could very well have meant that since Hanna and Caleb were gone, they could talk about what almost happened the previous night, but her mind was going to darker places... she couldn't help but wonder if there was some sort of sexual meaning behind that. She hated to admit it even to herself, but the idea of hooking up with him sounded _really_ good. But she had enough self-control to keep herself from jumping, so she stayed quiet.

" _And_?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, you were shying away from talking with me..." he furrowed his eyebrows.

"That has nothing to do with anything. All it means is that we're not having a conversation about whatever you _think_ was going to happen last night," she said, trying to pretend like she was completely consumed with her task of looking through a flower catalog.

"Hanna thought there was something happening," he reminded.

"Come on! Hanna thinks that there's something between _everyone_ who talks to each other!" Spencer rolled her eyes.

"So what? You think she was wrong? There's nothing here to talk about?" he asked.

"Well, that _is_ why there's no reason to even have a conversation about the _nothing_ that happened yesterday," she said.

"Fine, I'm sorry I even brought it up," he said bitterly. He changed his mood, as well as the subject. "So... what can I do next? I can check on the dining reservations."

Spencer gladly accepted his change in subject, as she didn't want to continue that conversation.

"They actually haven't decided which restaurant that they want to cater at the reception. They still want us to focus on getting all of the screws together for the actual ceremony first," Spencer explained.

"Okay, well tell me what I can do for you next," he smiled.

She put the flower catalog down and turned to face him. She was supposed to be thinking of what he could do next to help with the planning, but instead, she was staring right at his perfectly-rounded lips, which looked oh-so-kissable right now... She was more than sure that her staring was beyond obvious, and didn't go unnoticed by Toby. She didn't even know _why_ she did it.

"It looks like there _is_ something you want to talk ab—" he began.

But she cut him off by crashing her lips against his, violently releasing her frustrations into his mouth. Aggressively, she unleashed her hands into his hair, almost scratching his scalp. He was startled by the aggressive kiss, but nonetheless, gladly accepted it. He kissed her back with every ounce of passion he had, not even questioning this sudden change. She finally removed her hands from his hair and allowed them to grip onto his chest. As they continued to make out, she fiercely unbuttoned his cotton button-up, letting it hang open so she could get a glimpse of his chiseled chest for the first time in years... She didn't know what had gotten into her, but she wanted this so badly. She had been craving it. She didn't have the self-control she thought she did, at least not when it came to Toby Cavanaugh.

He helped her out by letting his shirt fall from his shoulders, completely exposing his torso now. She let her hands touch his chest again, but this time, she dragged her hand down his skin, only causing her body to heat up more. He slowly started taking control, and eventually overcame her so that she was pressed against the couch and he was on top of her. He pushed the flower catalog off of the couch. Finally, he separated his lips from hers, and instead started kissing down her neck. He felt satisfaction when he heard her moaning to his neck-kissing.

Her hands made their way to his butt, ready to get his pants off already. She was so ready for this.

* * *

After thoroughly enjoying themselves on the couch of Hanna and Caleb's house, the both of them were forced to face the dreadful after-sex... They were breathing heavily as they re-dressed themselves. Toby wasn't sure if he could keep a straight face the next time either Hanna or Caleb sat on this very couch.

Their re-dressing was very individual. Neither of them wanted to confront what just happened, but this time, it couldn't be denied as easily as the almost-kiss from the prior night. This time, something really did happen between them.

"So, why don't we start picking some flowers for the ceremony?" Spencer awkwardly suggested as soon as her clothes were back on.

She knew it took two to do anything like that, but she still felt terribly responsible. She couldn't keep her impulses to herself, and she completely let herself go with Toby. It was so rash...

"Sure," Toby scratched his head.

He looked over at Spencer, knowing that this was going to be the next thing that they avoided talking about...


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys are amazing! I'm so happy to read all of your reviews and responses, they really make me want to continue writing this story more. Thank you for reading this far already! Anyways, let's dive into the next chapter... I hope you guys enjoy it!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Spencer was laying in the guest bed, staring at the ceiling intently. She was still trying to wrap her brain around the events of today... otherwise known as a very spontaneous hook-up with her ex-boyfriend. She sighed, feeling frustrated with herself for complicating the situation even further.

Breaking her trail of thought was the sudden sound of Hanna opening the door, practically barging it. Spencer's head immediately turned to the blonde.

"Hey! I'm back from work," Hanna announced.

Spencer scoffed.

"Yeah, Han... I can see that," Spencer said.

"No need to be sassy, I just wanted to check in on you," Hanna told her. She kept walking towards the guest bed, and then sat down across from Spencer. "How has the planning been going so far? Are you two making progress?"

Spencer nodded her head.

"We're good," she nodded her head again. "We make a good team, I guess. He's got the park location all settled, and I've marked and ordered all your favorite flowers. I've been looking into the style of seating that you want, too."

"Efficient. I like that," Hanna commented, smiling happily. "I'm so excited to see how it all turns out."

Spencer wondered if she should tell Hanna about what happened with Toby. After all, they (along with Aria and Emily) had been best friends in high school, and had gone through hell and back together. And Hanna was never oblivious when it came to romantic things... she always ended up finding out. But she still couldn't bring herself to tell Hanna, especially when she couldn't even process it herself.

"Spence, hey..." Hanna furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you okay? I mean, you were looking pretty distraught when I first came in here, and now you're acting that way again."

"Sorry, I've got a lot on my plate," Spencer shook it off. "Maybe I just need some rest?"

"Or some _fun_!" Hanna exclaimed. "You don't have to be working 24/7. Come on, it's me, not some client that you have to impress. I don't want this trip to be a chore for you. I want your stay here to be memorable."

"And it will be!" Spencer told her. "Once I get through all the wedding planning, I get the rewarding experience of attending it. I don't just get to see all my work paid off in a beautiful ceremony and reception, but I also get to see you marrying the man you love. That's something that's memorable."

"Okay, well, as sweet as that is, that doesn't mean you have to sit around working all day everyday until everything is planned down to the very last detail," Hanna reminded. "I want to take you out tomorrow after work."

"You're engaged to somebody, and _now_ you're trying to ask me out?" Spencer mockingly joked playfully.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Hanna said sarcastically, rolling her eyes, but couldn't help but smile. "But no, I'm serious! I'll take you to a bar, and you can meet some cute guys. I'll be one of the _cool moms_ , and I'll let you bring the boy home, too."

"Are you suggesting that I hook up with somebody at a bar tomorrow?" Spencer scoffed. "Hanna, come on! You can't be serious about that... That's not a memorable thing. It probably won't be something that I want to remember, either."

"Fine, what about a date?" Hanna suggested. "Living in New York has gotten me many very _fine_ male contacts, just so you know. Only problem is, I'm already settled with some clown, so I can't put the contacts to use. But _you_ can."

Spencer was reluctant. She felt that it was odd to say no to Hanna, especially when she had been single for a while now. And it definitely felt odd that the reason she was holding herself back was that she was still completely confused about what happened with Toby.

"Isn't it the most memorable to just be present around you and have a good time with my closest friends?" Spencer tried.

"Just a few days ago, you were practically in tears because you heard that you'd have to plan the wedding with Toby, and now you're jumping for joy because you get to spend time with your ex-boyfriend!?" Hanna cried, furrowing her eyebrows. " _And_ there's the fact that you're pushing me out the door because you don't want to try dating again. But you're trying to tell me that there's nothing going on between you and Toby?"

Spencer tried to contain herself and keep her reaction minimal. She didn't want her facial expression to give away anything.

"Han, I came here to plan this wedding and spend time with you guys!" Spencer argued. "Can you blame me for not wanting to go out with a guy who lives in New York? I'm still living in D.C. Dating some New York guy is going to complicate my life too much. I promise, when I get back there, I'll get back into the dating game, and I'll let you know all about it. But the only thing I can do here is have some kind of one-night-stand, and I just don't want that!"

"Fine, fine... I get what you're saying," Hanna nodded her head.

"Thank you," Spencer smiled.

"Well, I'll go order some dinner," Hanna announced, excusing herself.

Once Hanna was out the door, Spencer suddenly realized something... She was talking about not wanting to date a guy who lived in New York because she'd have to deal with the distance when she went back to D.C., but she never mentioned that _Toby_ was a long distance from her. He still lived in Rosewood, and he probably wasn't going to be leaving. She didn't know if she was thinking that they could make things work in a relationship just because they had some really amazing sex. But sex wasn't going to fix the problem, it never did. The last time they were dating, they had become so distant because of all the distance between them. They called and texted, but it really wasn't the same. And when he came to visit her in D.C., they slept together a lot, but it never solved anything. The distance was still there, and sex couldn't fix that.

* * *

The next morning, Spencer was barely awake. She was sleepily scrolling through her phone, trying to keep herself awake. But the only thing that startled her enough to wake her up was the faint sound of the door opening.

And she turned her head, finding a perky Toby Cavanaugh standing there with a tray of breakfast in his hands. Spencer had to sigh to herself quietly. She couldn't believe this was happening. She _wanted_ it to work, but the doubts about the D.C.-Rosewood distance were coming back to her. Every bad feeling she felt while they were separated by long distance was haunting her again.

But for some reason, she still felt butterflies in her stomach when Toby came into the room with breakfast for her. It was a small, yet so sweet, gesture on his part. All they had done was hook up once, and now he was here with breakfast.

"Hi," he greeted quietly.

"Hi," she breathed back, setting her phone down on the nightstand. "What's this for?"

"Breakfast," he answered, laughing quietly.

Carefully, he carried the tray over towards the bed, and handed it to her.

"No, what's this _for_?" she asked, although she already had accepted it.

"Just because," he smiled. "I don't know, actually. I woke up really early this morning for some reason, and the thought just occurred to me... I thought it was something nice that I could do for you."

"You're amazing, you know that?" she said, feeling the butterflies in her stomach.

She felt like she was turning back into that mushy 17-year-old who was completely in love.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to hear it," he joked. "I hope my cooking skills aren't too rusty..."

Spencer couldn't stop gazing at him. He looked so adorable with his messy morning-hair, a goofy and boyish smile, and his pajamas. Suddenly, she reached over with one hand, leaving the other to hold the breakfast tray up, and grabbed Toby's hand. They both were looking at each other now. She squeezed his hand, and started brushing her thumb over the back of his hand.

Finally, she let go so that she could start eating the breakfast that he cooked for her. And not surprisingly, it tasted wonderful. Toby had always been a really great cook.

"I could sit here and watch you eat all day, you know that?" he grinned.

He made himself comfortable next to her, unsure if he was overstepping his boundaries.

He reached over and put his hand on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb gently. He was very glad to know that she wasn't shooing him away.

"And you're also so beautiful, you know that, too?" he grinned wider, leaving his hand on her cheek.

"Stop it," she blushed, her eyes fixed on him again.

"I'm serious!" he laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen anybody as beautiful as you."

"Come on... what the hell are we doing, Toby?" she asked, biting her lip. "You're making me breakfast, calling me beautiful..."

He cut her off and kissed her lips chastely and gently, much differently than she had kissed him before they started hooking up.

"I was not expecting that..." she muttered.

"Me neither," he breathed.

They stayed there in bed together blissfully. Toby reached over to take her hand, holding it gently. He stayed next to her as she continued to eat the breakfast he cooked for her. Spencer loved this—this blissful feeling of being with him again unproblematically. She hated thinking about how this was temporary, and how this would all become problematic again once the wedding planning was over. She'd have to go back to D.C., and he'd have to go back to Rosewood. It didn't seem possible for this to work out, but she didn't want to say anything. If she did say something, the blissful moment would perish now.

"Once you're done, we can go downstairs and do some more planning," he told her, rubbing her hands sweetly. "I finished sealing up the invitation envelopes last night. Have you booked the appointment for the dress fitting?"

Spencer nodded her head.

"I'm taking Hanna down to the store this weekend so we can try dresses on. You'll have to find something to keep Caleb busy," she said.

"I can do that," Toby nodded his head.

She moved the breakfast tray aside for a moment, and gave Toby a rather suggestive look.

"I can think of a lot of ways to pass the time up here instead of talking about the wedding planning," she smirked, placing her fingers on Toby's cheeks. She used the other hand to hold the back of his neck, and pulled his head closer to hers to close the distance between their mouths. Their mouths moved in sync for a few moments.

Toby suddenly pulled back instead of allowing her to go any further with him. He looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. He didn't mean to make it seem like he was rejecting sleeping with her again, but he wasn't sure if another hasty hook-up was going to do them any good.

"Spencer..." he muttered, scratching her head.

She felt extremely rejected, but remained looking straight at him.

"What is it?" she asked. "Did I do something wrong? Do you not want to do this?"

"No, I do, I swear!" he cried in his defense. "Trust me, I really do... but doesn't it go against our better judgment?"

"Our better judgment clearly wasn't working yesterday then, was it?" she smirked. His worried expression remained, so she furrowed her eyebrows. "Come on! You were just cooking romantic breakfasts for me, but now you've changed your mind and want nothing to do with me?"

"What? No, that's not it," he told her. He sighed and continued, "Look, I just don't want that to become _everything_ that this is about. Sure, it's how we got the ball rolling again, and it was really good, but that's not what I want from you. I don't want to just be the guy you sleep with now."

Although she wasn't planning on bringing up the distance, it ended up coming out anyways.

"So what did you want from me? A full-on relationship? As if that's going to work, considering the distance?" she raised her eyebrows. "Toby, _this_ is all that it can be. Something light, fun, casual... something that's just not too serious. Because we both know that once this wedding is over, we have to go back to our old lives. It won't work out, and the same problems from last time will hit us again."

Toby pressed his lips together. He understood what she was saying, but he didn't like the sound of it.

"I thought you wanted more from this, too... I don't know. I may have been a little idealistic and optimistic, but I thought that we could make it work this time around if we were both willing to compromise a little more," he explained.

"Look, I was thinking long and hard about it, too," she confessed. "I was contemplating it after what happened between us yesterday, and part of me was thinking that we were going to do it right this time around, but then I realized something: the problem hasn't gone away. The distance is still there, Toby! How are we supposed to make circumstances that are beyond our control work? Our lives are headed in different directions right now. This wedding planning world isn't the real one. It's just something temporary. Everything's going to become the same again in just a matter of time... I wish it were different."

"Okay," Toby nodded his head.

He was staring at the floor, clearly thinking hard about something. Spencer was having difficulty decoding him. He definitely looked slightly disappointed.

But suddenly, his head perked up. He gave her a smile, and although it seemed a little half-assed, it also seemed genuine.

"Well, maybe the circumstances are beyond our control when this wedding planning thing ends, but right now, we're here, aren't we?" he was still smiling. "We're here, together, and maybe it's temporary, but I just like being with you. So, maybe we don't have to think about the long term purpose of this... maybe we can just have fun right now, and see where things take us from here. How does that sound to you?"

She smiled back at him, surprised that he was compromising this much. He was still willing to mess around with her after she practically admitted that she didn't think that it was possible for them to have a serious future. And it was odd... the Toby from the past was the type of guy who thought about the endgame—he thought about how the future was going to look. He idealistically wanted to start a family, get married, have the perfect little domestic life... he wasn't the type to sleep around, or even have a casual relationship. When he went for a girl, he was searching for something serious with her. It was one of the reasons they broke up. Of course, she was serious about him, but she also had a very prominent focus on her career and studies, and that didn't translate well when they had their pregnancy scare. Toby was ready to drop everything and start a family with her. Spencer didn't want a baby at all. She wanted to get rid of it, and she wanted to keep on worrying about her studies. And while there was nothing wrong with that, both of them realized how different the pages they were on were.

"I'm good with that," she answered, smirking again.

She leaned over, pressing a kiss to his lips again.

"I'll finish this breakfast up and meet you down for more planning," Spencer told him, stroking his cheek.

"Alright," he nodded his head, smiling at her. "I'll see you down."

* * *

"All the RSVPs are in, so I ordered the chairs... plus a few extra, in case we get any last minute acceptances," Toby explained, shutting the laptop in front of him.

The edge of Spencer's lips curled into a smile that was more like a smirk.

"I think we deserve a little break after all of our hard work, don't you?" she asked, inching further towards him by the second.

"I could use a break," he chuckled, and started to lean in closer.

Before their lips could touch, the door abruptly opened, and Hanna walked inside. The two of them immediately pulled away from each other, and scooted as far apart as they could in the time that she put her bag down. She started walking towards them.

"Hey, guys..." she greeted, sighing loudly. "Work is so... _tiring_. You know?"

"Trust me, I know," Spencer laughed. "But the wedding planning is a lot more fun than being at the office, so I'm completely okay with this."

"How's it going with that?" Hanna asked, sitting down on the couch next to them. "I'm sorry I've been so absent in this whole process. I really, really wanted to be a huge part of it. It's my wedding, after all! But Caleb and I have been so busy with work—"

"Don't even worry about it, Han," Spencer shook her head. "We're following your list, and we're making a ton of good progress. Have I ever told you that Toby and I make an excellent team when it comes to working together?"

Spencer turned to look at him, smiling proudly.

"I never thought that he was the type of guy who would be interested in planning like this, but he's surprisingly fantastic at what he does," she continued.

"Well, I _was_ a carpenter for a long time," he reminded. "I've gotten pretty good with staying organized and making plans."

Hanna raised her eyebrows.

"When did this best friend act come into play?" Hanna asked.

Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

"We've been having a good time planning this together, I guess," she tried to explain vaguely.

"Okay, well... I'm glad to hear that it's going well! I can't wait to go dress shopping with you this weekend. I finally have some time to just worry about the wedding," Hanna excitedly said. She suddenly bursted with excitement, "Oh! Spencer, remember how I was talking to you about how I know plenty of single guys? They're all my contacts! Isn't it super cool that I have contacts?"

Toby's face dropped a little bit. Spencer bit her lip, looking at Hanna worriedly.

"Yeah, super cool..." Spencer scratched her head.

"Mhm, so anyways! I told a couple of guys about you. I showed them a picture, explained how amazing you are, and all of them were interested in getting to know you better," Hanna said. "There's Luke, who lives in New York... there's Rodger, who also lives in New York... but I know you said you didn't want to date any of them because of the distance, so I was a little bummed, 'cause these guys are fantastic. But anyways, you must be a really lucky girl, because just today, one of my co-workers's friends flew in from D.C. for business yesterday. Can you believe it!? His name is Logan, he's super smart, super handsome... the total package, honestly. I talked to him, and he said he'd be honored to have a date with you. So... are you in or what?"

Spencer chewed her lip harder, while Toby sat there uncomfortably. It was hard for him to sit there and do nothing while Hanna was trying to sell Spencer on going on a date with some seemingly perfect D.C. guy. And Spencer didn't want distance in her relationship, so essentially, wasn't this guy perfect for her? Logan lived in D.C.! And he couldn't say anything to Spencer or Hanna about this matter, because he technically wasn't in a real relationship with Spencer. They weren't supposed to be telling anybody about their "light" and "casual" relationship.

"Han, I'm just not looking to date anybody right now. I'm sorry," Spencer sighed. "You're going to have to tell him that I'm actually not interested in going out with him."

Hanna furrowed her eyebrows.

" _Seriously_?" Hanna folded her arms, "You said you wouldn't date any of them because they live in New York! Now, here's a perfectly good guy who lives in _D.C._ , Spence... and he wants to go out with you! The least you could do is try and get to know him, isn't it? What if he's perfect for you?"

Spencer sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"What is the issue? Are you seeing somebody else?" Hanna demanded. "You're off from work right now. You're here. He's here. He wants to go out with you."

"Hanna, I just don't want to!" Spencer cried.

Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Don't you want a happily ever after? 'Cause you're never going to find that if you don't even try," Hanna sighed.

"Look, I'm not an old woman or anything. We're barely out of college... I'm sorry if I'm not already getting married like you and Caleb are," Spencer rolled her eyes. "Forgive me for not having a world that revolves around finding 'the one.'"

Hanna scoffed.

"Fine, I guess I'll tell Logan that you don't want to go out with him. Sorry that I bothered you with the subject," Hanna said bitterly. "I just wanted to try and find somebody to make you happy."

"Han, I don't need a serious boyfriend to be happy," Spencer reminded her.

"And what? You're happy right now? Drowned in paperwork in D.C.? Alone?" Hanna questioned.

"I may be a busy person, but that doesn't mean I'm some lonely, friendless loser in D.C.," Spencer rolled her eyes. "I spend time with people there all the time. I date when I actually start liking somebody. Why are you being so unreasonable, Hanna?"

"I don't know! I just feel like you're unhappy all the time, and I... I don't want that, okay?" Hanna sighed.

"I appreciate your concern, but you don't have to worry about me right now, okay? I'm fine," Spencer said. "I promise."

Hanna nodded her head, but still seemed to be in disbelief. She headed upstairs, leaving Spencer and Toby alone.

Toby had stayed back the entire time, keeping his comments to himself. But once Hanna was gone, he turned to Spencer.

"I'm sorry you had to fight with her like that," he told her.

"No, it's okay... I'm the one who chose to keep this thing a secret," Spencer reminded him.

Toby furrowed his eyebrows. He hated seeing her look so stressed and upset. He wondered if it was because of the fact that she and Hanna had argued, or because something that Hanna said had affected her. He was leaning towards the latter.

"Are you okay?" Toby asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I know we're supposed to keep it 'light' and 'fun,' but I'm here for you if you need somebody to talk to, you know..."

She sighed, but smiled weakly at his sweetness.

"Thank you," she said, letting out another breath. She turned to look at him, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Spence, what is it?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders gently now.

"Hanna wasn't wrong about what she said about my life in D.C.," Spencer confessed, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. "She was right about it all—I _am_ lonely there. Everyday is another lonely day. I have some friends, but they'll never amount to the strong friendships I had before leaving Rosewood. I have fun sometimes, but the amount of work I have to do usually overcomes any opportunity for fun... and of course, I go on dates sometimes, but they're never anything _real_ , you know? They're never like what you and I had."

Toby look at her empathetically.

"I miss who I used to be," she continued. "I never wanted to turn out to be exactly like my mother—a solely career-driven woman who doesn't have time for love or friends. She and my father barely exchange glances when they get home. It's just eat, work, sleep everyday. And everyday, I start to feel like that's the type of person I'm becoming."

Toby nodded his head. He reached over and took her hand.

"But something feels different again now that I have you back in my life," she suddenly confessed. "And I know I said that we're supposed to keep this light and fun, but even _that_ gives me a better feeling than I've felt in _years_ in D.C."

"You don't have to go back," he reminded. "You can go wherever you'd like... you can come with me to Rosewood."

"Toby, we've had this fight before... you know I can't do that. I still want to have my career in D.C.," she said, sighing.

"I know," he sighed. "But you don't have to stay in D.C. You don't have to go to Rosewood. You really can go wherever. D.C. can be an experience. You got some work experience, finished college... that's just the beginning. You've got so much left in you, Spence. I don't want to see you tied down."

He leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her forehead. Then, he pulled her in for a side-hug, running his hands through her hair as he did so. She buried her head in his chest, embracing the hug. She really felt like she was home again. And now, more than ever, she didn't ever want to go back to D.C. She didn't want to go back to that office, and pick up where she left off with her old life. She wanted to stay here, in his arms, and be surrounded by friends. She knew the feelings were only going to become more sentimental as everyone from her past started arriving for Hanna and Caleb's actual wedding...

But for now, she was here, in Toby Cavanaugh's arms. And that was the only place that she wanted to be.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Over the next few days, Spencer and Toby grew increasingly close again. During all the time that Hanna and Caleb were out of the house, they had a lot of opportunities to spend time together. From wedding planning to making out—maybe even some casual conversations were thrown in there, too—they were able to reconnect in a variety of ways.

"God damn," Toby complained. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, causing Spencer to look over at him.

"What is it?" she questioned, looking at him with complete curiosity.

"They put a question mark by their favorite music artists... I have no idea who to book," he groaned. "If they're someone in high demand, we're going to have to try and book them early on. In fact, that should've been the first thing that we did!"

Spencer laughed quietly. She put a hand on Toby's shoulder.

"It's okay, I promise," she calmed him down. "They'll be home from work in just a few hours, and we can ask them."

She noticed that he was a little _too_ stressed out about booking a band for the wedding reception.

"Tobes..." she furrowed her eyebrows. "Is everything really okay? Why are you so bothered about booking the band _now_?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I guess all this planning was just starting to become a little too stressful for me. I'm thinking that a small break will satisfy... what about you?"

She smiled at him, laughing very quietly before scooting closer to him on the couch. She leaned in and pressed her lips against his, kissing him softly. Gradually, it progressed into a much steamier kiss, but she just wasn't feeling like he was actually into it.

She raised her eyebrows, pulling back from his mouth. He looked slightly embarrassed, scratching his head and trying to look away.

"Do I have over-the-top coffee breath or something? Or are you just not excited about this at all?" she questioned.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Your breath is fine, trust me. Everything is fine. _I'm_ the one who suggested that we take this break, aren't I?"

She tilted her head to the side in disbelief.

"I know you suggested it, Toby, but you've kissed me with more interest while you were half asleep in the past, so what gives?" she demanded. "I think I know when a guy isn't really into kissing me. It's obvious."

He sighed, trying to avoid her eyes again.

"Toby!" she cried, tugging on his arm. "Come on... tell me! I thought we were finally being a little more open and honest with each other about things. If something's bothering you, you can tell me what it is."

"No, I can't... not without judgment," he bit his lip. "We've already talked about this, and I—I don't want to keep bringing it up when I know what the answer's going to be every single time."

"Is this about the distance?" she guessed.

When he didn't immediately respond, she knew that the answer was a definite yes.

She sighed, feeling frustrated with the entire situation—not because he was bringing it up again, but rather that there was really no solution to this problem... at least one that felt right.

"Toby..." she tilted her head to the side, still frustrated. "When the wedding is over and we go back to our old lives, we'll be able to move on. We're just having a good thing right now. That's the only possibility."

"I'm not gonna forget about you just because we leave this place," he denied.

"Oh, really?" she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "We didn't talk much for the _majority_ of the time after we broke up. We both found other things to do. I'm pretty sure that Emily told me that you were getting serious with that politician's daughter."

Toby swallowed hard. He remembered _her_.

 **ROSEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA: ONE YEAR AGO**

 _"The robbery's been taken care of. We've got both the guys in custody. The girl is here and safe, but she's a bit hurt. She looks distraught. They must've hit her pretty hard in the attack... but I'll comfort her, and then I'll take her down to the station for the brief questioning. But... everybody's okay, Officer Calderon. I'll see you in a little while."_

 _Toby latched the device back onto his belt after reporting out to Lorenzo Calderon, who was back at the Rosewood Police Department. He took a deep breath before walking towards the distraught young woman who was sitting in the corner of the supermarket. Her eyes were rightfully tearful, and it broke his heart to see her like that. She had a couple bruises dispersed. There was one dark purple mark on her face. Toby knew that it probably hurt like hell. He had to deal with those guys who attacked her, and they definitely weren't weak fighters._

 _"Hey," he greeted awkwardly, kneeling onto the floor so he could see her better. "I'm Officer Cavanaugh. You're really brave, you know that? You stuck it out with those guys. They were tough... pretty brutal."_

 _She swallowed hard. Her tearful eyes met his. Her lip was quivering from the experience that she had just encountered. She had never been through anything like that._

 _"Are you here to question me?" she asked. "Because I'm not a part of the robbery. I had nothing to do with it, Officer. Those guys attacked me. They came in here for money, and they attacked me. So, you can't go around with the police department making up stories and conspiracy theories about how I'm a part of the big scheme, because I'm not, Officer. And if you run around making those accusations, it's going to hurt my mom's campaign, and I don't want this to affect her_ _—"_

 _Toby finally decided that it was time to cut her babbling off. He chuckled quietly._

 _"Relax," he said calmly. "No one thinks that you had anything to do with this. We know you were the victim. Yeah, I have to take you down for questioning later, just as a formality so that we have enough grounds to give those guys the punishment that they deserve... but that's not the point. I wanted to tell you about how tough you are. And maybe I could check some of those injuries out."_

 _She nodded her head, leaning in closer so that he could see her bruises and injuries better. He ran his hand on her cheek, touching the purple bruise. His body cringed at the sight. She looked so weak and torn up._

 _"So, you're the daughter of Mrs. Phillips... the proud woman running for State Senate?" he grinned, pulling back from her face._

 _She rolled her eyes, nodding her head._

 _"I may look like some weak little girl right now, but that's only because I got attacked by two guys with guns and weapons. Normally, I am a strong, independent woman who is not afraid to cut a bitch if necessary," she warned him. "So... don't you dare pity me."_

 _He grinned wider. He liked this girl. He couldn't exactly explain why, but something about her was so likable. He offered her a hand so that he could pull her up. She looked at him in disbelief, tilting her head to the side._

 _"After I told you that I'm a strong, independent woman, you try and help me up?" she raised her eyebrows. "That's sexist."_

 _"No, it's not sexist," he chuckled. "You think I'm offering a hand to a woman who I view as weak, when in reality, all I see is a tough girl who just dealt with two pretty bad guys. I'm not offering you a hand because you're a girl. I'm offering you a hand because you're a human being, and no human being should have to go through something like this alone. Now, will you just trust me and get up?"_

 _She exhaled dramatically before accepting his hand reluctantly. He pulled her up so that they were both standing._

 _"Yvonne Phillips, right?" he asked._

 _She nodded her head proudly._

 _"So, I see that you're a fan?" she mocked._

 _"I wasn't before, but I certainly am now."_

 _"If I didn't know any better, I would think that you're trying to hit on me, Officer," she smirked._

 _He tilted his head to the side, smirking back at her._

 _"Good thing you know better, then," he said. "I'll get you some bandages for your injuries. They're back in my car. That's not too misogynistic for you, is it?"_

 _"Fine. I'll accept," she jokingly pretended to be reluctant again._

 _He chuckled once again, and began walking towards the door of the supermarket. But before he made it all the way to the door, he turned back around and looked back at her. She raised her eyebrows curiously._

 _"So, I've been practicing my formalities, but I got a little off track. Most officers don't treat people like this... so I thought, since I've already gone beyond the line of professional with my protocol, I'd go against it one more time and take you out to dinner tonight... you know... on a misogynistic comfort dinner, since I view you as a weak woman," he said boldly._

 _He didn't know how he did it. He hadn't asked a girl out like that... hell, he hadn't even gone out with many girls since his break up with Spencer, but when he saw Yvonne Phillips and talked to her, something changed. He wanted to ask her out. He liked something about her. She reminded him of all those qualities that he adored in Spencer. She fought him back. Spencer did that, too._

 _Yvonne raised her eyebrows, giving him a challenging look. He was now feeling a bit insecure about asking her out, feeling that it was a bit too unprofessional and overstepped the boundaries with her too much. The look on her face didn't make it seem like she wanted this._

 _"That's pretty unprofessional, Officer," she folded her arms. "I might have to write you up for it."_

 _He chuckled quietly, shaking his head._

 _"I usually like to know the name of the guys I go out with before I go out with them... but that's just what I normally do," she joked._

 _He couldn't stop smiling now._

 _"As much as I love being called Officer Cavanaugh, you can call me Toby, I guess... and how about I call you tonight?" he said smoothly._

 _"Points for that line you just used... Toby. It was very smooth, I must say. I'm impressed," she commented. "You give me those bandages, and I'll give you my phone number."_

 _"That's an unfair trade for you, but I won't complain. I'm the one who gets the better end of the stick," he winked before turning back around and walking out of the supermarket towards his police car._

 _He felt proud of himself. It had been a long time since he had made the first move with a girl. Since his breakup with Spencer, he hadn't wanted to start searching for anyone new. He kept holding onto the thread that she'd come back for him, and that they'd eventually find their way back together. But reality set in, time flew by, and he realized that he couldn't keep waiting forever. And when he looked at Yvonne, he took that opportunity, because he felt a way that he hadn't felt in quite a while. It was reassuring. Maybe there was hope for him. Maybe the broken heart he had wouldn't have to last forever._

He turned his head back to look at Spencer after breaking out of his thoughts.

"That isn't true or fair. I didn't _forget about you_ just because I was with somebody else after we broke up," Toby argued.

"Well, _obviously_ we didn't forget about each other completely, but don't tell me that what you had with Yvonne wasn't serious," she fired back.

"There wasn't a day that went by that I wasn't thinking about you, Spence," he shook his head. "I may have been with her, but I never forgot about you. Ever. You were always in the back of my mind."

"That's easy to say now that you two are broken up!" Spencer practically yelled. She sighed, calming herself down and running a hand through her bangs. "Toby... I get that it's easy to get our feelings mixed into this, but we agreed that this is going to be casual, and if you can't handle that, then how is this ever supposed to work?"

"That's the problem. It's not _supposed_ to work. It's a temporary filler until you go back to D.C. and meet the man of your dreams, right?" he said bitterly.

"Our lives are headed in two different directions," she reminded quietly, staring at the floor.

"I didn't want to have this fight again. Maybe it's true that it was bothering me right now, but _you're_ the one who brought it up, Spencer. You're the one who kept pressing and pushing until we talked about this," he said.

She sighed and reached over to take his hand. She squeezed it gently.

"Toby, I want you in my life right now. That's all I know," she told him. "I can't tell you where the future is going to go, but the odds certainly aren't seeming to be in our favor right now. I'm just trying to be realistic and practical about where this is going. Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll figure something out, but for right now, this has to be what it is, or it can't exist at all. But if you want to know how _I_ feel, here it is: I like being with you. I like reconnecting with you. It feels good for me. And we have about a month left until the wedding. It's not a lot of time, but it's time. And for me, I want to enjoy the time that we have left together... the time where we're able to be in the same room—hell, right now, the same _household_ —as each other."

Toby smiled at her weakly. There was no doubt that he was enjoying being with her. Truthfully, he had wanted this to happen for a long time. But the fact that it would have to come to an end after the wedding scared him. He normally felt like a month was so long, and he'd struggle to pass the time, but when he was with her, their time soared. Before he knew it, the wedding would be here, and he would have to say goodbye to her. _That_ was the thought that hurt like hell, even if he wanted to cherish what they had right now.

But he didn't want to keep on fighting and arguing with her about the same topic. He would rather end this thing between them in a month than right now. If this was his only option, then he was going to take it, because he needed Spencer in his life for as long as possible. He knew it was a bad idea, because once she was gone again, he was going to feel the same ache that he felt for so long after their breakup. He would be regressing... sliding backwards into a dull and painful time where he questioned the entire purpose of his life. Because without Spencer, he felt like he had nothing, at least for an extremely long period of time. Sure, things picked up when he started things with Yvonne... but he wasn't lying when he told Spencer that there wasn't a day that he didn't think about her. He thought about her all the time, even when he was with Yvonne.

The regression was going to be horrible. It would be like having to just stop doing drugs immediately. He knew he'd have withdrawals. He knew he'd go back to that horrible state he was in after the breakup, but he couldn't help it. He wanted Spencer, in whatever package she came in.

"I'm sorry," he told her, "for fighting with you right now. I didn't mean to... I know we can't really change where this is going. I don't want you to sacrifice your career. You've worked so hard, and... nobody deserves the success more than you do. It hurts me, but... I get it. And all I want is for you to have everything you've ever wanted and worked for."

Spencer tilted her head to the side, blinking and smiling at him appreciatively.

"Toby, that's really sweet of you to say," she said. She closed her eyes and leaned in, gently kissing him.

Once they both pulled back, Spencer laughed quietly.

"So... we better get back to work. I have dress shopping with Hanna tomorrow," she reminded.

"Good luck," Toby chuckled back quietly. "You better not crack and spill about us."

"Oh God... knowing Hanna, she'll be badgering me. I think she's already suspicious after I turned down that Logan guy who she claims is 'so incredibly perfect,'" Spencer scoffed, shaking her head.

"Not as perfect as me, right?" Toby joked lightheartedly.

"Hmm... I wouldn't know. I haven't met the guy yet, so... _maybe_?" she joked back, grinning at him like a fool.

Toby sighed, relieved.

"Man, I'm really glad that I didn't end this. Even if it's just for a little while... spending time with you makes me so happy, Spence," he smiled at her. The smile was so genuine that it scared the hell out of Spencer. He looked at her like she meant everything to him, and maybe she did. "I really mean that," he continued. "I haven't felt this happy in a long time, you know."

"Me neither," she said in a quiet voice. She suddenly raised her voice, " _Okay_ , we have to get back to work, Toby. Hanna and Caleb are going to start wondering why we barely get anything done around here."

"I'd argue that we get a lot done," he defended. "We've done a pretty damn good job so far, if I must say so myself."

"For the amount of time that we claim that we're working, we don't get the equivalent amount of work done, so I disagree," she said.

Toby scoffed.

"I don't think they expect us to be working all day, nonstop... I think they expect us to be taking breaks, because, you know... we're _people_ , and they're not paying us, and we are also not being held captive by them," he argued.

"Don't keep fighting me on this!" Spencer cried. "Trust me, I _know_ we're doing a great job, but I still feel bad, and I want to get this done. Also, the sooner we get all the planning done, the sooner we have time for... freedom, and doing whatever the hell we want in their house while they're at work. How does _that_ sound?"

"Oh... it just makes me wanna get back to work _right now_ ," he chuckled, opening his laptop back up.

* * *

"Hey."

Spencer looked up from the couch, where she and Toby were working. She bit her lip when she saw Hanna standing there. They still hadn't really talked through the semi-fight they had the other day about Spencer's dating life. Honestly, Hanna was still bitter and frustrated that Spencer didn't say yes to going out with Logan, but she decided that she wasn't going to throw some longterm, petty tantrum over it. So, when she came home that day, she looked straight at the brunette apologetically.

"Hey, Han," the brunette smiled weakly.

She felt like they were going to talk through this, but she wasn't sure. She and Hanna weren't necessarily _fighting_ during the last few days. They just weren't as close as usual, and there was a little bit of tension here and there. But neither of them wanted it to drive a huge wedge between them that ruined this memorable experience. They were planning Hanna's wedding, and that was important to the both of them. Spencer wanted to make amends with Hanna just as much as the blonde did.

"Can we talk?" Hanna asked, raising her eyebrows.

Toby looked up at them, realizing that he was the obstacle in the room. He chuckled quietly and shut his laptop.

"I will see you guys at the dinner table tonight," he excused himself. "I'm betting you two could use the space from me to talk. I'm gonna take a long nap, so... see ya."

"Wait, do you want to keep Caleb company for me?" Hanna asked pleadingly. "I'd really like to just talk to Spencer right now."

"Sure," Toby nodded his head. "I'll ask him if he wants to watch a movie or something."

"Thanks, Toby," Hanna smiled.

"No problem," he smiled back before walking up the stairs to find Caleb.

Spencer bit her lip.

"Well, you sound serious about this talk with me..." the brunette muttered, and then scratched her head awkwardly.

"Yeah, well... this 'fight,' or whatever the hell we've been having, has really been bothering me. This isn't how I want to spend the rest of our time together. I love you so much, Spence, and I don't want to fight with you," Hanna confessed. "I know... I can be a bit pushy with your love life, but it's just because I want the best for you, and I want you to be happy. I get it... you don't need a boyfriend to be happy. That's fine. I may just be in a mood where I think everyone needs to find true love right now, probably because I'm happy with the relationship _I'm_ in, and that's selfish of me."

"It's okay," Spencer shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I should've have shot you down so harshly... I mean, I'm really just not looking to date for real right now, so..."

"That's okay, no," Hanna shook her head. "I was being too pushy. As great as Logan is, it's your love life. He may be totally _perfect_ for you, but—"

" _Hanna_ ," Spencer warned, rolling her eyes playfully.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "Who cares about some guy? We're going dress shopping tomorrow, and we're going to have the time of our lives!"

Hanna sat down on the couch next to Spencer and hugged her.

* * *

" _The Shawshank Redemption_ or _The Matrix_?" Toby inquired, rummaging through the DVD cabinet.

"I'm a sucker for scifi, so I'm gonna have to go with _The Matrix_ ," Caleb answered, leaning back on the recliner.

Toby grinned, nodding his head as he popped the DVD into the DVD player. He pressed the play button, then got up to walk to the other recliner. He sighed quietly before relaxing back in the seat. His eyes were glued on the TV screen until he felt the subtle buzzing of his cell phone in his pocket. He furrowed his eyebrows and pulled it out. It was a text message.

From _Yvonne Phillips_.

He pressed his lips together. His heart raced to see that she had texted him. He glanced over at Caleb, who was luckily very invested in the opening part of the film to notice that he was on his phone. Then, he unlocked his phone so that he could read her message.

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:34 PM]: Hey. Wanna talk? It's been a while._

He swallowed hard. They really hadn't talked in a long time... not since they broke up, at least. He kept his fingers hovering above the digital keyboard of his phone, hesitating as he tried to figure out what to text her back.

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:35 PM]: I'm not in town right now._

He wasn't sure if that was the right message to send, but he did it anyway. He felt like the right thing to do was to avoid having an actual conversation with her. He knew that he and Spencer weren't actually, literally together, but they were exclusive enough that they weren't seeing other people. She turned down the date with Logan. It just wasn't right to be having fun conversations with his ex-girlfriend.

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:35 PM]: Doesn't mean we can't talk over text_

He sighed. He was somewhat intrigued. What the hell did she want? He wasn't upset that she was texting him... he was just confused. Why now?

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:36 PM]: Ok. What's up..._

He felt guilty. He didn't know what he had just started.

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:36 PM]: Where are you rn?_

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:37 PM]: New York. Friend's wedding in a few weeks. I'm helping with planning._

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:38 PM]: Oh that's cool._

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:38 PM]: I miss you_

He cursed at himself internally. He brought this upon himself.

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:39 PM]: Let's not do this..._

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:40 PM]: Is there someone else_

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:41 PM]: We're broken up..._

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:41 PM]: Is Spencer there_

 _[Toby Cavanaugh, 7:42 PM]: Not with me?_

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:42 PM]: But she's there_

 _[Yvonne Phillips, 7:42 PM]: i was right._

"Hey, you okay, man?" Caleb asked, turning his head to look at him. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine. My boss was just asking me about when I'm gonna be back in Rosewood for work again. I was just writing him an e-mail back," Toby lied to explain.

"Alright," Caleb nodded his head.

Toby turned his phone off without replying to Yvonne, and shoved his phone into his back pocket again. He took a deep breath, trying to focus on the movie.


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologize that it took me so long to update the story, but hopefully this pretty long chapter will make up for that! It's approximately 6,000 words ;)! Hope you guys enjoy!**

Chapter 7

"Honestly, I should've done this _months ago_! What if they don't have one in my size? I was Googling before we came here, and I read that it can take _months_ to special order dresses."

"Relax, Han. We'll just have to find one that's your size in stock," Spencer assured her, squeezing both of the girl's shoulders.

"What if I see _the one_ dress that speaks to me, but I can't get it because it's not in my size!" Hanna cried.

"You work with designers. We'll just ask them to make you their priority," Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

"Asking my workplace for favors? That's a little unprofessional, Spence," Hanna huffed.

"Well then, let's just hope this place has something remarkable in your size."

* * *

"So, are you nervous about your big day?"

Caleb chuckled quietly, shaking his head.

"I mean, it's intimidating, but I'm not scared. We're just gonna go up there and get married. What else?"

"Well, you'd better look dapper on your big day, so let's get this done," Toby grinned, opening the door for his friend.

Caleb pressed his lips together in awe when he saw the variety of different suits distributed all around the shelves of the store.

"You okay, Caleb?" Toby asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I just... I usually don't do my own tux shopping," Caleb scratched his head. "I don't even know where to begin. Hanna usually buys mine for me. She doesn't think that I can do it myself, and she wants to make sure we look _perfect_ at her get-togethers and parties. I always used to tell her that I can to it myself, and we'd argue about it... just a little. But now, I realize that she was right the whole time. How the hell am I gonna do this by myself?"

"Well, you're not by yourself. I'm here, and I think I know what I'm doing. Spencer was always big on independence and _teaching_ me how to do things, rather than doing them for me. And I'm pretty glad that she did, 'cause now I've got a clue on what the hell I'm doing," Toby explained, chuckling.

Caleb furrowed his eyebrows.

" _Spencer_?" he questioned.

"Yeah... Spencer," Toby repeated, confused. "What's the problem?"

"I don't know. It's been a while since you two were together, and she was your example. I thought you'd bring up Yvonne or something," Caleb shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, Spencer's the one who taught me all this crap about buying tuxes and suits while we were dating. It has nothing to do with... anything," Toby defended himself.

"Okay, okay. You're right. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," Caleb shook his head. "I guess I just was kinda looking to see how you'd react to me being suspicious about her."

"And why's that?" Toby asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know," he answered quietly. "Well, I do... but you're gonna shoot me down if I ask."

Toby tilted his head to the side.

"Come on," he urged.

"Fine," Caleb groaned. "I thought you guys were getting a little close. I mean, you've been spending a lot of time with her during the wedding planning, so I don't blame you for getting close to her again. But part of me thinks that it's not just a friendly reconnection. Hanna and I were sure that you both would be horrified to work together again."

"We're being civil... for you two. And it's not like we broke up in a huge cheating scandal or something. It was mutual, and it wasn't hasty," Toby reminded.

"Yeah, I get that... but Hanna mentioned it, too. She was wondering why Spencer didn't wanna go out with that Logan guy," Caleb shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe she just didn't wanna go out with him. It's not that deep," Toby objected.

"See? I knew you'd shoot me down," Caleb sighed.

"I'm not... shooting you down," Toby furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm just answering your concerns."

"Really? You don't have _any_ feelings for her?" Caleb asked in disbelief.

Toby rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I don't know. And whatever! We're not here for this. We're here to get you a tux for your wedding, so let's do that and stop focusing on irrelevant theories in your head," Toby said in frustration.

Caleb snickered, putting his hands up in surrender. Toby folded his arms, taking a deep breath and looking the other direction. Caleb decided to start looking through one of the piles of tuxes.

* * *

"How do you think Caleb and Toby are doing?" Hanna asked, turning around to face her friend.

"They'll be _fine_ ," Spencer assured her. "We should be focusing on your dress. I trust Toby. I taught him all about buying tuxes and suits while we were in a relationship."

"Wow... what a blast from the past," Hanna raised her eyebrows.

Spencer furrowed her eyebrows in response.

"What is it, Hanna?" she demanded.

"Nothing... I just kinda thought that there's something going on between you and Toby," Hanna confessed.

Spencer did her best to give Hanna a convincing scoff, as if her idea was ridiculous.

"Why? I can't be friends with my ex-boyfriend?" she raised her eyebrows.

Hanna tilted her head to the side in disbelief.

"No, that's not what I said, and you know it. He's not just 'an ex-boyfriend.' He's _Toby_. I wasn't sure if you ever really got over him to begin with! And I don't know if there's something actually going on between the two of you, but I can't help but feel like you _want_ something to be there between you guys. Because maybe—and don't start yelling at me like crazy for saying this— _maybe_ you still feel something for him... and maybe that's why you didn't want to go out with Logan."

Spencer stayed silent. She was contemplating telling Hanna about the thing between them.

She took a deep breath, staring at the floor.

"Part of me will _always_ be in love with him, but that doesn't mean we _can_ or _should_ be together, Han. Look, he's so important to me in a lot of ways, but the circumstances are way beyond our control. We couldn't get it to work before."

"Forget _circumstances_!" Hanna cried. "If you love him, and you want to be with him, then that's what you should do. Caleb and I broke up. We were far apart from each other for a long time, but we realized that we still love each other, and that we want to be together. So then, the distance and circumstances don't matter anymore. Because when you love someone enough, you should be willing to make it work. So, here we are now. We're both in New York, and we're happier than ever."

"We have different goals in life! I don't know, Hanna!" she cried. She looked over, and saw the baffled look on the blonde's face, then took a deep breath to calm herself down. She ran a hand through her brown hair. "Look... I know you want to play Love Doctor and fix my love life, and I adore you for being so optimistic... I adore you for caring so much about me. I _appreciate_ that. But some things just aren't meant to be fixed, and I think this is one of those things. I love him enough to know that he deserves better than to follow me around wherever my career takes me. I don't want him to settle for me. I don't want to bring my instability to him, and make him resent me. And I also know that I deserve better than to have to give up my career to settle down. _I_ want to do something with my life... I want to make a career for myself."

"Okay," Hanna breathed, nodding her head. "I understand."

"Do you?" Spencer challenged, raising her eyebrows.

"I know you, Spence... I know where you're coming from. You shouldn't have to sacrifice your career," she explained.

Spencer smiled.

"Good. I'm glad you at least understand where I'm coming from. And look, I know we both have different values in life. I admire your ability to put your happiness first. That's just... that's not the way I was wired. That's not the way I was brought up," Spencer explained.

"Well, I can only imagine the pressures you felt growing up with two hard-ball lawyers as parents," Hanna shrugged. "But I hope you know, you _should_ worry about your happiness. I know your career is important to you. My career is important to me, too. But I realized that jobs come and go... meanwhile, there's only one Caleb Rivers in the entire world, and if I messed that up, that would be it."

Spencer sighed, feeling overwhelmed. She felt like Hanna was putting a pressure on her to figure her feelings out. It was supposed to be simple: she and Toby were just casually having fun until the wedding was over, and then they would part ways. They'd make a clean break with no hard feelings. It wasn't supposed to become this complicated. Now, she was actually considering what Hanna was saying. She was _considering_ the possibility of trying to continue this thing she had with Toby after the wedding ended. It sounded complicated as hell, but she was wondering if she should reevaluate her priorities.

"Thank you... for caring about me, Hanna," Spencer breathed, scratching her head. "But we should, uh... we should focus on finding you a dress."

"You're right," Hanna smiled. "Come on."

The two girls looking around the racks. Spencer watched as the blonde tried on what felt like _thousands_ of dresses, and gave her opinions on each one. Eventually, Hanna came out in a beautiful white gown, and she had the biggest grin that Spencer had ever seen on the girl's face.

"I love it!" Spencer gasped. "How do you feel, Han?"

"I love it, too!" Hanna exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah, well I could tell from that grin on your face... Does it fit? Or do we need to make some adjustments?" Spencer asked.

"It fits... I think," Hanna answered, rubbing her hand over the silky material. "This is it, Spence. I found the one dress. Every girl always talks about that moment where they find the perfect dress that literally _speaks_ to them, and I never believed what they said. I thought it was just some wedding dress myth that went around, but when I put this dress on, I knew it was the one immediately. I could see myself walking down the aisle in it... I could see myself saying my vows in it, and most of all, I could see myself marrying Caleb in it."

Spencer got up from her seat, rushing over to Hanna. She hugged the blonde tightly, and ran her fingers across the white material as well.

"You look beautiful, Han," Spencer commented, still hugging her. "Caleb is going to be _stunned_ when he sees this thing on your big day!"

* * *

"So, you like the tux we got?" Toby asked.

The two men were driving back to Hanna and Caleb's place. Caleb was in the driver's seat.

"Yeah, it's nice," Caleb nodded his head, chuckling quietly. "I know the girls have this big thing over the dress... but this tux just feels like a tux to me."

"It's the tux you're gonna get married in!" Toby laughed. "It's a _huge_ deal."

"I guess," he chuckled. "Anyways, can you imagine? I bet Hanna and Spencer are getting all emotional over the dress they bought today."

"You should be shedding tears when you see Hanna walk down the aisle in that dress. I'm disappointed with your lack of emotion in relation to your wedding, Rivers," Toby joked.

"Hey, I'm just happy that I'm marrying her. All I'm saying is that I won't be shedding tears because of the dress she's wearing... I'll be shedding tears because she's gonna be my wife," Caleb grinned to himself.

"That's cute," Toby scoffed.

"Yeah, so what's going on in that mind of yours? Are you imagining your wedding with Spencer?" Caleb joked, smirking, but his eyes were still locked on the road in front of him.

"Shut the hell up," Toby rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Didn't we already have a bit of an argument back in the store over this issue?"

"It was a joke. But the more defensive you get about this, the more I think there's something actually going on between the two of you... or at least that you have feelings for her. But hey, you can keep denying it if you want," Caleb shrugged his shoulders. "You don't have to tell me anything, Toby... but you should know that I'm your friend, and that I'm there for you. I was there for you when you and Spencer broke up, and I'm there for you now. So, if you want to, you can tell me what you're feeling."

Toby pressed his lips together, staring out the window. He was contemplating telling Caleb now. He could use somebody to talk to about this, because he certainly couldn't do that with Spencer. They just kept on having the same conversation about how it was too hard for them to be together after the wedding was over. Maybe Caleb could offer a better perspective.

"We had sex." Toby blinked a few times. "I mean, we've _been_ having sex."

" _Oh_ ," Caleb raised his eyebrows, slightly startled. "And how do you feel?"

"I'm uh... I'm confused, I guess," Toby scratched his head. "I'm happy that we're reconnecting. And it feels, uh... it feels good to be with her. But I... I don't know."

"You want more than that?" Caleb guessed.

Toby nodded his head.

" _Of course_ I want more," Toby sighed. "We're sleeping together, yeah, but it's a lot more complicated than that. We were together for a really long time, so this could never _be_ 'just sex' to me. And we spend a lot of time together while planning. I feel happy when I'm around her. But she's always been focused on her career, and she's made it clear to me several times that this is gonna have to end after the wedding, 'cause she's going to D.C., and I'm going back to Rosewood."

"I'm sorry, man," Caleb sighed. "Do you think... she wants to be with you?"

"I don't know. I _think_ she still has feelings for me, too, but I also think she's convinced that we won't work out because of how different our goals are. But all I know is that I don't want to lose her," Toby explained.

"Then make it clear to her how you feel about her, Toby. Maybe there's a chance... if you tell her exactly how serious you are about her. You've got nothing to lose here, man. If you don't tell her, she's definitely walking away from you. But if you _do_ tell her, there's at least some chance that things could go the way you want, and you could get her back in your life," Caleb advised.

Toby sighed, but soon diverted his attention to his phone when it buzzed loudly. Caleb was looking over at him with his peripheral vision, knowing something was up immediately by the look on his face.

"Toby?" Caleb questioned. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he responded, shaking his head. He turned his phone off, and put it away.

"It doesn't seem like nothing," Caleb pointed out.

Toby sighed again, running a hand through his hair.

"Yvonne texted me," he confessed. Caleb raised his eyebrows. " _Again_ ," he added.

"Again? As in, she's texted you before this?" Caleb asked.

"She texted while we were watching a movie the other day. She wanted to talk, but I sort of dodged her. She assumed that the reason I didn't want to talk was Spencer," he answered.

"Well, was it?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know... I guess," he shrugged his shoulders. "She and I are broken up, first of all. And I'm _technically_ seeing Spencer right now, even if it's just a casual thing. We're not exclusive or anything, but... it's just not right to be flirting with my ex-girlfriend right now."

"I can see why Yvonne would be mad about you falling back into Spencer's arms, considering everything that happened. You remember why you two broke up, right?" Caleb asked.

Toby rolled his eyes, scoffing quietly.

"Yeah, how could I forget when she dumped me?"

"Now that I know about you and Spencer, part of me thinks that Yvonne wasn't wrong for wanting to break up with you," Caleb pointed out.

"There was nothing going on with Spencer back then, Caleb. Hell... we were so many miles apart. How the hell could there be anything there?" Toby demanded. "I never did anything to Yvonne. I never cheated on her. I never hurt her. She wanted to break up with me, and she has to live with that. She can't just start texting me and try to send us back to that place we were once in. We're done."

Caleb gave him a look of disbelief.

"You know, I know you didn't _really_ do anything, at least not voluntarily, to her, but you did hurt her," Caleb reminded. "How did you expect her to be with you when she knew you were in love with someone else, Toby? Because it's clear to me now, more than ever, that you're still in love with Spencer."

"Whose side are you on?" Toby demanded. "Are you really trying to defend Yvonne when she broke up with me? The only factual evidence is that I didn't cheat on her. I was trying to move on with her!"

"But it didn't work out, did it?" Caleb asked.

"Okay, whatever... I'm not playing this therapy game with you," Toby rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but think hard about it. Think about why Yvonne broke up with you. You had to have given her a reason to think the way she was thinking, because that kind of accusation doesn't come out of nowhere, especially not from a girl as smart as Yvonne. She knew exactly what she was risking when she made that accusation, but she believed it enough," Caleb explained.

"Or maybe she was just jealous over nothing!" Toby cried. "Maybe she was insecure about our relationship! I don't know!"

"The sooner you admit that you never really got over Spencer, the sooner you can figure out what you want going forward," Caleb told him. "And I know, you don't want to play the therapy game with me anymore... that's fine. I'll leave you with what I just said. I just want you to be happy, man."

Toby swallowed hard. He turned his head, focusing in on the window.

 _Yvonne Phillips took a deep breath as she opened the door. She had another stressful day at work while helping her mother's campaign. She furrowed her eyebrows when she smelled the smell of pasta coming from the kitchen. Shutting the door behind her, she walked over to the kitchen. A smile formed on her face when she saw her boyfriend cooking. He was deeply engaged in the sauce that he was stirring. Startled, he nearly fell back when he realized that Yvonne was standing there._

 _"H-hey!" he greeted. "Damn... I didn't think you'd be home so early. I didn't get to finish, but it's almost ready, I swear. I know that work's been stressing you out lately, so I wanted to surprise you with dinner all cooked and perfect so you could have an easy night tonight. But, I guess the surprise is ruined, huh?"_

 _Yvonne blushed._

 _"No, it's not ruined!" she laughed. "Baby, thank you... that's so sweet. You are just the sweetest, and I'm still surprised how lucky I am to be with a man like you. You made my day so much better with this."_

 _She walked over to him, pressing a short kiss to his lips._

 _"Well, as much as I'm enjoying this, I've gotta finish making dinner. I promise it'll be ready really soon, okay?" he told her._

 _"Okay," she laughed. "I'm gonna go upstairs and change quickly."_

 _"Take your time," he encouraged. "I can pretend like I have a chance of still making this a surprise, with the whole dinner laid out on the dining table."_

 _"I'll give you the pleasure and stay up for extra long to give you time to finish," Yvonne smiled._

 _She pecked Toby's lips again before turning around. She walked up the stairs with an uncontrollable childish grin on her face. She was blissful as she opened the door to their bedroom. She went to the closet, searching for more comfortable clothes to change into. After grabbing some clothes, she walked over to the mirror to take her earrings off. In the process, she dropped one of them on the floor._

 _"Crap..." she mumbled, rolling her eyes._

 _She bent down onto the floor, rubbing her hands on the carpet to search for her earring. She moved closer to the bed, trying to look underneath it. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw something underneath the bed... and it wasn't her earring. She reached forwards, pulling the square object out. It was unusual. It was a Scrabble board, but there were pieces glued to it. She ran her hand across the letters glued down to the board. One set of tiles formed GLYCERALDEHYDE, which was obscure to her. Another set formed GOOFBALL. And in the center of the board was I LOVE YOU. Although the two words had no significance to her, she wondered if this was some type of gift from Toby to her._

 _But then, she ran her hand down the deep wooden sides of the Scrabble board. There was a plaque with an engraved message on it. Yvonne swallowed hard, holding the board further away from her face so that she could read the message._

 _For T-  
My safe place to land.  
Always your girl,  
-S_

 _Her heart sunk. She immediately knew who this was from. She immediately knew that it was some sort of keepsake from his past relationship. They had talked about their exes before, and whenever they did, he always started acting weird when Spencer Hastings came up. He glazed over it, trying to brush off the significance of their relationship, and Yvonne tried to buy it. She wanted to believe that it was just a past relationship of his. And she wasn't mad that Toby had loved another girl in the past, that would be ridiculous. Yvonne had loved a lot of her past boyfriends, but she had fallen out of love with them before she started dating Toby._

 _The thing that hurt her was the fact that he kept this gift from Spencer. She felt like he had to still love her in some way if he kept this gift from their relationship. Hell, he kept it under their bed! He probably looked at it and reminisced all the time. Yvonne felt a pit in her stomach. She tried to remain calm, but deep down, she was so freaking worried that this was going to change her relationship. She was afraid to bring it up to Toby, because she had a feeling that if she did, everything was going to become weird between them._

* * *

When Hanna and Spencer returned to the house, Toby and Caleb were already there.

"Hello, handsome boys!" Hanna exclaimed. She sat down on the couch, pressing a short kiss to Caleb's lips. Caleb put his arm around her, smiling. "How was tuxedo shopping, baby? Did Toby help you find the most perfect suit ever?"

Caleb chuckled.

"Yeah, we got a nice one," he responded.

"Nice isn't good enough! It has to be perfect!" Hanna cried.

"Alright, well it's pretty perfect. How was dress shopping?" he asked.

" _Amazing_ ," Hanna gushed. "I found the most beautiful dress... I think you're going to love it."

"Yeah? Well, I think I'd love the way you look in any dress, actually," Caleb chuckled. "But still... I'm dying to see you in it. I hate that I have to wait."

"Life is rough," Hanna smirked.

Toby's eyes were fixed on Spencer.

"So, did you two have a good time shopping?" Toby asked, relaxing his head against the couch.

"Mhm," Spencer nodded her head. "We talked _all_ about you two knuckleheads. The gossip was very real."

"Oh, really?" Toby playfully grinned. "What did you say?"

"You'll never know, I guess," Spencer winked.

Caleb raised his eyebrows, observing the dialogue between them. He looked at their interactions differently now, knowing that they were sleeping together. Part of him felt stupid for not being surer that they were screwing each other under his own roof, considering how they interacted.

"Hanna, babe... do you wanna go pick some dinner up? I don't think anyone really feels like cooking tonight after the long day we've had," Caleb suggested, eyeing Spencer and Toby. He really just wanted to give them some time to talk.

"I guess. We can just go out to eat," Hanna suggested.

"Nah, let's pick it up," Caleb said, pulling his fiancé up with him. "These two have worked too hard for us, so let's just buy them some dinner and bring it back, okay?"

"Okay," Hanna shrugged her shoulders. "Are you guys cool with that?"

" _Sure_ ," Spencer responded, biting her lip as she looked over at Toby. "Thanks."

As soon as Hanna and Caleb headed out, Spencer seated herself down, placing herself on Toby's lap.

"Lucky us, huh? We have the whole house to ourselves, and nobody expects us to be wedding planning right now," Spencer smirked. She pressed her hands to Toby's cheeks before leaning in and kissing him.

Toby placed his hands on her ass, squeezing it as he kissed her back harder.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Toby breathed through the kisses.

She pulled back, nodding her head. He grinned, standing up and picking her up. He held her in his arms as he carried her upstairs, then pressed his lips against hers again when they arrived in his guest bedroom. He released her down on the bed, and she scooted backwards, towards the pillows. He continued smiling as he climbed on top of her. He held her shoulders firmly as he pressed his lips against her neck, sucking slowly and roughly.

" _Toby_ ," she moaned, breathing heavily. "Don't... you'll leave a mark, and Hanna will... you know."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked, chuckling while he continued to trail kisses along her neck.

"Um, _yes_. Do you _know_ Hanna? She'll never stop commenting about it!" Spencer cried.

"Well, Hanna's the last thing on my mind right now, Spencer," he whispered, continuing to move his lips lower. He stopped for a moment to pull Spencer's shirt over her head, and tossed it onto the floor.

He dragged his tongue down the valley in-between Spencer's breasts, then moved further down. He kissed all around her stomach, rubbing his hands on her sides in circular patterns. He toyed with the hem of her skinny jeans, then popped the button off. He dragged her jeans down her legs, then threw them off to join her shirt. Before he continued undressing her, he pulled his own shirt over his head, tossing it to the floor.

"Let's do something different," he smirked, then looped his fingers around her underwear, dragging it down slowly and teasingly.

He pressed his lips to the bottom of her stomach, then continued moving his lips downwards, getting dangerously close. Spencer gripped the cheeks to control herself from screaming.

" _Toby_..." she breathed, shutting her eyes and immersing herself in the sensation of his tongue.

* * *

"How long do you think we have until they come back?"

"Not very long, Tobes... they're just picking up food. We should probably get dressed before we get busted," Spencer laughed, shaking her head.

"But I don't wanna go anywhere right now," he whispered, turning onto his side so that he could gaze at her. "I wanna be right here, 'cause this is perfect to me, you know."

Spencer turned onto her side as well. She bit her lip, then brought her hands to his cheeks, brushing her thumb against the skin gently. She gazed right back into his blue eyes. She leaned in, placing a chaste kiss on his lips. After pulling back, she continued to stroke his cheek with her thumb.

"I know you just said you don't wanna go anywhere right now, but... would you consider getting up to get me some water?" she laughed nervously, giving him a pouty lip.

He rolled his eyes playfully.

" _Fine_ , I'll make an exception... for you only," he sighed, pulling the blanket off of his body. "You better not continue taking advantage of how whipped I am."

"Whipped?" Spencer scoffed, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I mean... I'm willing to get you a glass of water, make you food whenever you want..." he bit his lip. "Maybe even move to D.C. to be with you..."

Spencer's eyes widened. She pressed her lips together, stunned by his words.

"Toby, don't say things you don't mean," she warned.

"How do you know that I didn't mean it?" he asked as he pulled his boxers up. "Have you ever considered that maybe I'm serious about it?"

"We talked about how this is going to be something easy and light," she reminded.

"Yeah, but that was only because we both thought that neither one of us was willing to compromise!" he pointed out. "Look, Spence... I'm just saying, maybe there are ways around this. Maybe everything doesn't have to come to an end as soon as the wedding is over."

Spencer shook her head.

"Toby, I cannot have you following me around wherever I go. That's not fair to you, and that's not fair to me. Please, I'm begging you... don't bring back the fight we had so many years ago," she begged. "Why can't this just be what it is?"

He was going to argue that he wanted more, but he was getting tired of fighting her about it, too. He really was considering moving to D.C. after hearing everything that Caleb advised him about earlier. He wasn't sure if he would do it, but he wasn't entirely opposed to it right now, either. But it seemed that Spencer was opposed to it, so he decided to stop pressing on the subject.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, offering her a sweet smile. "I'll be back in just a minute with that water, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled back, but sighed as soon as he was out the door.

She shut her eyes, hitting her head against the pillow. She just felt like she couldn't give Toby what he was looking for. God, it was scaring her... the fact that he just confessed that he might be willing to move to D.C. for her! It was stressful. All she could think about was how much he deserved to be with somebody who didn't make him sacrifice like that. He shouldn't have to move. She knew that he had grown fond of Rosewood for some reason, and allowing him to move would be taking that away from him. Sure, he said he was willing to move, but in reality, he was just doing it for her, and not because he wanted to be there. She didn't want him to give up something that he loved for her, because she knew that she wouldn't want to give her career up if it were the other way around and she was supposed to move back to Rosewood.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of a phone buzzing, and it was a tone that didn't belong to her phone. Her eyes immediately opened, and she turned her head to the nightstand, where Toby's phone was. When she looked over at it, her mouth trembled a bit. She saw that the person who had texted Toby was _Yvonne Phillips_ , his ex-girlfriend.

She decided that she wouldn't be the jealous and nosy girl who read the text message, although it took much self control. However, that didn't mean that the text wasn't bothering her. After all, why the hell would his ex-girlfriend be texting him? She and Toby never texted much after they broke up, unless it was for something like wishing the other a happy birthday. She swallowed hard. Yvonne was a nice girl who was in Rosewood, and she could give Toby what he wanted, couldn't she?

Spencer didn't know why he and Yvonne broke up, but she still couldn't help but feel that they could fix things eventually. She lived in the same town as him. Things would just be easier with her. All Spencer believed she ever did for him was give him complicated. She dragged him into messes that he didn't deserve, and now, she was giving Toby another complicated situation. She could tell how strongly he felt about her, and it scared her that he was willing to give so much up for her. She had the power to make him give up a lot, and she already had made him start to consider relocating himself for her. She wondered if being with Yvonne would be better for him, or being with another girl who could actually make things easier for him.

It wasn't supposed to be this hard, and that was why she kept thinking that they shouldn't be together anymore. Making him get attached to her again was just going to make things harder.

The door opened again. Toby returned with a bright smile on his face and a glass of water in his hands.

"I'm back," he announced, carefully settling himself back down on the bed, trying not to drop the glass of water.

He carefully handed the glass to Spencer. She smiled, pressing a warm kiss to his lips before taking a sip of water.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeming concerned.

"Yeah, of course," she lied, faking a smile. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know... you seemed kinda distraught, plus, I kinda hit you with a bomb before I left. I shouldn't have done that... it was stupid of me to impose something that big on you like that," he apologized, sighing quietly.

"No, it's fine," she shook her head. "I wasn't distraught... I was just getting lonely without you."

He chuckled, leaning back in to kiss her again.

"Okay, well, you better drink up quickly, 'cause we've gotta start getting dressed again before Hanna and Caleb get back," Toby reminded her.

He grabbed his shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head. Spencer nodded her head in agreement, setting the glass of water down on the nightstand. She swallowed hard at the sight of Toby's phone again, remembering the text from Yvonne that was waiting for him. She shook it off, and reached towards the floor to grab her clothes.


	8. Chapter 8

**My updating skills are pretty unforgivable, but I decided to return to FF after the series finale of PLL... so, here I am! I hope you will stick with me and still read this new chapter of the story.**

Chapter 8

"It's been a long time in the running, but it looks like we're finally here," Hanna breathed proudly, looking around the nice hall with several tables all around the room. "Well, _almost_ here, that is. And I'd like to thank you both for all the work that you've put into planning this for us. You're life savers."

Spencer smiled at her blonde friend.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Han," she said. "Let's get this rehearsal dinner started. I'm so excited that everyone is going to be flying in. It feels like it's been f—"

Before she could finish her sentence, someone slightly taller than her came up behind her and wrapped them arms around her, covering her eyes with their hands.

" _Guess who_?"

Spencer grinned widely.

" _Emily_! It's really you!" Spencer exclaimed.

Emily brought her arms back down to her sides, and welcome Spencer in for a warm hug. Behind her were Alison and Aria, both smiling brightly, ready to hug her. Emily went on to hug Hanna, while Alison and Aria came in to hug Spencer first.

"God, I've missed you guys," Emily breathed, shaking her head. "But I'm so happy to be here. And I'm so happy for you, Hanna."

Caleb coughed jokingly, wrapping his arms around Hanna from behind her and squeezing her shoulders.

" _Right_. You, too, Caleb," Emily laughed. "You better take care of her well."

He chuckled, "I will try my very hardest."

Spencer tilted her head to the side.

"So, how have you been?" she asked. "How's California treating you?"

Emily scratched her head nervously.

"Um, well... California was fun. College there was a bit stressful, but..." she trailed off, looking up at Spencer nervously. "It was fun while I was there." Hanna, Caleb, and Spencer all raised their eyebrows. "I moved back to Rosewood, actually. I'm taking classes at Hollis. So, I actually get to see Alison and Toby a lot..."

Hanna still was confused.

"You're back in Rosewood? Why do you sound like that's such a big secret? And why didn't you tell us?" she asked.

Aria stepped up, "She and Ali are together now. That was the big news that she quite miserably _failed_ to deliver clearly."

"Hey, I was nervous to tell everyone!" Emily defended herself, folding her arms.

Hanna, Caleb, and Spencer stood there, completely surprised. Yet Hanna's surprise turned into a smile.

"I should've seen it coming sooner. It's about damn time!" she exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you two!"

She broke away from Caleb's hold of her and yanked both Emily and Alison in for a suffocating hug. Emily and Alison laughed, shaking their heads as they pulled back from Hanna's enthusiastic hug.

"I found out when I saw them together at the airport and they told me everything," Aria explained, laughing.

"So, where's Ezra?" Spencer asked curiously, looking to her tinier friend. "He _is_ coming for the wedding, right?"

Spencer didn't talk to Aria _too_ much since they were both really busy with their lives, but she vaguely remembered Aria once mentioning in the past year that she had ran into Ezra because he got a job in Boston near her. She also remembered that she said that they were in the process of maybe getting back together a while ago, but she never got an update on that situation. Part of Spencer didn't want Aria to have a date because then she wouldn't be the only one without one. After a lot of thinking, Spencer had decided against asking Toby to be her date to the wedding.

"Yeah, he's coming," Aria answered, smiling. "He's finding parking for the rental car; he'll be here soon."

Spencer smiled weakly. "That's wonderful."

Hanna clapped her hands together.

"Well, shall we go inside and begin this rehearsal dinner?" she asked.

* * *

All the guests were filling into the hall, searching the tables for their place tags. Before Toby started looking, he walked behind Spencer and put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. She turned around.

"Hey," she greeted weakly, smiling equally as weakly.

She had been uncomfortable since she found out that he was texting Yvonne, and she started to distance herself from him more and more. He kept trying to remain friendly, but she just didn't want to make him believe that this was something that could last after the wedding. She didn't want to destroy his life again. They hadn't had sex since that day, either. They kissed a few times because Spencer just didn't have the self-control, but she didn't let it go any further than that, insisting that they needed to be working hard with the real wedding day rapidly approaching.

"Hey!" he greeted with a warm smile. "It was really great to see everyone again!"

Spencer tilted her head to the side, laughing quietly. "Didn't you mostly see all of them already? I mean, you live in Rosewood, and so does Alison. And apparently Emily, too. Did you know that they're a thing!?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I actually talked to Em a lot. I've known that they were together for a long time. I was there through their whole will-they-won't-they thing." He chuckled.

Spencer's eyes widened. She made a mock-offended face.

"She didn't even tell me about it!" she cried. "I can't believe you knew and you didn't tell me!"

"What was I supposed to do?" he laughed again. "Call you up after not speaking for so long to say, 'Hey, ya know... Emily and Alison are dating now! Interesting!'"

" _Yes_ ," she nodded her head.

He shook his head, chuckling again. "Anyways, you were in charge of the seating chart for the dinner. You better have put us near each other."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"It's a blur— I might've. I did have to make some last minute changes to the seating chart because there was a last minute addition to the guest list," she told him, biting her lip.

"Someone new is coming?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's somebody's plus one," she replied.

By the look on her face, he could tell that something was up with Spencer, but chose to ignore it because he really hated arguing with her. Instead, he turned to scan the tables for his name. The closest table to them had his name on one of the seats, so he walked over there and pulled the seat out to sit down. When he looked to the right of his seat, his eyes widened. _Yvonne Phillips_ , it read. Immediately, he turned around with wide eyes to confront Spencer, because this had to be what she was referring to. Instead of being met with Spencer's eyes, he was met with Yvonne's.

"Yvonne!" he cried, startled. "W-what are you doing here? In... New York?"

She smiled radiantly before yanking Toby in for a hug. He kept his eyes open during it, too startled to be calm. He hugged her back, but he was so shocked.

"Seriously," he started after he pulled back from the hug, "what are you doing here?"

"Your friend Spencer was kind enough to reach out to me and invite me to the wedding!" Yvonne exclaimed. She took his hand, squeezing it gently. "I thought she would've told you, but maybe she wanted to surprise you. She told me that you didn't have a date for the wedding and that you had mentioned that you missed me or something... that you wished that I would come here for it."

He raised his eyebrows, turning his head to look at a very guilty looking Spencer Hastings.

"Did she, now?" he asked, still looking at her.

"She did!" Yvonne exclaimed. She turned to look at Spencer. "Thank you for inviting me to the wedding, Spencer. I'll admit, I did have my doubts because you're Toby's ex-girlfriend, but I really appreciate it. Seeing him here... I'm happier than ever. It's so good to see you again."

"Yeah, it's awesome," he nodded his head, but bit his lip. "Hey, Yvonne, why don't you sit down at the table? I just want to go over some of the rehearsal dinner arrangements with Spencer really quickly."

"Okay," she nodded her head. "See you in a bit!"

Eagerly, she sat down at the table in the seat next to Toby's, where her place card was. Frustrated, Toby marched over to Spencer, gently grabbing her arm and yanking her aside.

" _Spencer_ ," he said sternly. "Why the hell would you invite her here? To the wedding?"

" _Because_ ," she started. "With everything that's happening, I thought that you could use somebody who really makes it easy for you. Somebody who you could actually have a future with. And I know you weren't expecting it, but I wanted to do a good thing for you and surprise you because you really are better off this way. She can make you so, so happy in so many ways that I can never. And the other night, I saw that you were texting her and a light bulb went off in my head... I thought, maybe you do miss her. If you're texting her, you must still be on good terms."

"Is that why you've been acting so weird lately?" he asked, folding his arms. "I get that you were trying to be the bigger person, but that was _not_ your call to make. You don't know the first thing about my relationship with Yvonne. Yes, we didn't have a fiery break up where we ended up hating each other, but... I don't want to get back together with her! We broke up for many reasons!"

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I just wanted you to be happy..."

Toby's face softened when he looked at her.

"Spence..." he muttered. "Now she has to be my date to the wedding. I thought... I thought that _we_ were gonna go together. Just for one last fun night before we go our separate ways again."

She sighed.

"This is exactly why I did what I did, actually," she told him. "We can't be... _attached_ , or it's going to hurt when we have to leave. I don't want to be hurt anymore, and I don't want to hurt you anymore. It hurt to invite Yvonne to be your date, but I knew that it would be better in the long run."

"You don't get to decide how I feel!" he cried incredulously. "You can't just press a button and decide that I still have feelings for Yvonne! You can't just tell me that I shouldn't have feelings for you! I don't know why you would assume all of that just because of a text message... We literally just started texting again, and it wasn't about anything important."

"Well, you know me," she smiled bitterly. "I'm a bit of a control freak, so I feel the need to take everything upon myself and 'fix it,' but I usually just end up making things worse. Like right now, for example..."

His face softened again. He sighed.

"You could've _asked_ me about it if you were concerned that I was texting her," he told her. "You didn't have to jump to conclusions and invite her here without knowing how I really feel about her."

"But I already did. I invited her, and I'm sorry, Toby," she said. "I really did think I was doing the right thing."

"I know you did," he sighed again.

"But," she continued, "I couldn't have asked you about this. If I asked you why you were texting Yvonne and if you still had feelings for her, you would've denied it immediately even if it were true because you wouldn't have wanted to hurt me and let me know that. I know you, Toby. I know you're _that_ type of guy who never wants to hurt me."

"But I don't have feelings for her, Spencer..."

"She clearly still does. And she was willing to come all this way just to be here for the wedding," she explained. "Maybe you don't have feelings for her right now, but you could again if you just gave her the benefit of the doubt tonight and try to move on. Imagine how good it would be to love somebody who's right near you."

He was about to respond, but then the sound of Hanna fiddling with the mic on the stage disrupted the room. She touched it in all the wrong ways, sending microphone feedback all throughout the room. Spencer and Toby both turned to face her, halting their conversation.

"Testing, testing... is this thing working?" she asked into the mic. "Oh! Okay, looks like it is! Has everyone found their seat?"

Toby sighed, walking over to Yvonne's table and sitting next to her. Spencer was at a nearby table with Emily, Aria, Alison, and Ezra. She glanced over at Toby, and he glanced back at her. They locked eyes, both not knowing where to go from here.

* * *

"Well, it sucks that us four won't all be roomies anymore!" Hanna complained as they walked out of the successful rehearsal dinner hall. She squeezed Spencer, Toby, and Caleb close to her as they walked towards the curb of the street. "But it's exciting to have my family here again. Enjoy your lux hotel rooms, though!"

Spencer smiled, hugging the blonde while Caleb pulled away from all of them to go call a taxi. Once he got one, he motioned for Hanna to come over there and get inside. Hanna waved at Spencer and Toby before climbing into the taxi with Caleb.

"Where's Yvonne?" Spencer asked curiously as they waited outside.

"I, uh... I called an Uber for her to take her to the hotel so that she wouldn't have to wait for me. I told her that I had a few more things to pick up from Hanna and Caleb's place," he explained.

Spencer raised her eyebrows.

"But we already moved our stuff from their place this morning..."

He scoffed, "That's the point, Spencer. It's called a lie."

"You're still mad at me?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"I'm not _mad_... I was never _mad_ ," he told her.

"Frustrated? Disappointed? Upset? I don't know, Toby, but you're clearly not very happy right now!" she cried.

"I just don't understand why she's here," he said. "I don't want to hurt her and tell her to go home, so I can't do that."

"You just have to take her as your date to the wedding. It's not _marriage_ ," Spencer rolled her eyes. "I already said that I'm sorry. I know I made a bad call, I just thought I was doing the right thing."

"But she thinks I want to get back together now. You told her that I wanted her here and that I've been missing her... and she was flirting with me all night long," he sighed.

"Is getting back together with her so bad?" Spencer asked. "You really don't want that at all?"

"Spencer, how much clearer can I be with you?" he raised his eyebrows. He turned so that he was facing her, looking directly into her brown eyes. "I don't want her, okay? I want _you_."

Spencer stared at him with wide eyes, her lip trembling. It wasn't shocking considering that he had been declaring that he would move to D.C. just for her so many times, yet she was still shocked when she heard it. She stood there in silence, just staring into his blue eyes, tempted to kiss him, but not wanting to complicate this further.

"Toby, we can't—"

"I know, I know. You've said it a million times: we can't work because of the distance, because we'd be holding each other back, because of our jobs. I've heard it all before so many times," he huffed. "And maybe you're right; it wouldn't work out. But at least I can say that I was willing to give it a try before giving up. Because this time, I told you that I wanted to, and that I wouldn't resent you for anything."

"You say that now, but it would all be different if we actually got back together."

He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.

"Whatever, Spencer. I get it: you don't wanna be with me. I can't change that," he nodded his head. "I'm sorry things didn't work out between us... again."

With that, he stepped away from her, waving his hand to the next taxi that came, and got inside, leaving Spencer there.

* * *

Toby absentmindedly was flipping through channels on the hotel TV, thinking about what to do in this situation. It seemed like the only thing he _could_ do was leave Spencer alone because she had made it clear that she was not interested in trying their relationship again. Before, he was trying to make himself okay with that and just enjoy the time he had left with her until she had to go back to D.C. and he had to go back to Rosewood, but since Yvonne was back, he couldn't even really do _that_ anymore.

He sighed quietly when he heard a knock on his hotel room's door. He set the TV remote down and got up, walking over to the door and pulling it open.

"Hey, stranger!"

He looked up and met eyes with the girl standing in front of him.

"Hey, Em."

She tilted her head to the wide.

"You sure left the rehearsal dinner in a hurry. And I barely got to talk to you before it started, so I wanted to drop by and see what's up."

He nodded his head, moving to the side so that she could enter his room. He shut the door behind him, and the two of them settled down on the bed together, sitting up straight. She handed him one of the two bottles of beer that she was holding in her hands.

"You're drinking tonight?" he raised his eyebrows. "I don't think your girlfriend's gonna like that very much."

Emily rolled her eyes, "It's just _one_ beer. I'm not getting drunk or anything. I will be perfectly sober when we go back to our room."

"Whatever you say," he chuckled, popping the top off of his bottle.

She raised her eyebrows.

"What about _your_ girlfriend? How's she gonna react to your drunk self?" Emily asked curiously. Toby pressed his lips together when she asked that. "Yeah... I saw you two talking intently at the rehearsal dinner tonight."

"Spencer's not my—" he started.

" _What_?" Emily tilted her head to the side, surprised. "Toby, I wasn't talking about Spencer... I was talking about Yvonne. I saw here there tonight, unless she had a secret twin that I didn't know about." Looking at him with curiosity in her eyes, she asked, "Why would you even think I was talking about Spencer? Is _something_ going on?"

He shook his head.

"There's nothing _going on_ ," he replied.

She looked at him in disbelief.

"Well, do you _want_ there to be?" she inquired.

He rolled his eyes, bringing the beer bottle to his lips and taking a sip.

"I thought you were here to talk, not interrogate me," he said.

"I _am_. The interrogation is a part of us talking!" she joked. "Seriously, you've been AWOL for so long. I haven't heard a word out of you since you got to New York. Even Ali was asking why you weren't calling, and you two aren't very fond of each other, so... I'm just saying. What have I been missing?"

He sighed.

"I'm sorry for not calling... I really am," he said. "It's just been pretty busy here with all the wedding planning."

She really didn't look like she believed him.

"Maybe you should've gotten out of Rosewood before it infected you with major dishonesty," she scoffed, sipping her beer. After swallowing it, she commented, "I'll assume that this has something to do with Spencer, since you jumped up screaming her name when I said girlfriend."

"Em," he sighed. "It really has been busy with wedding planning. I wasn't lying. But... you just have to promise me that you're not gonna run off to Spencer and tell her everything that I'm saying."

"You got it," she agreed, nodding her head. "Now tell me what's up already! I feel really out of the loop!"

Breathing in and out heavily, he began, "I hooked up with Spencer... a few times. A lot of times, actually..."

Emily huffed out excitedly, looking over at the man sitting next to her.

" _Damn_ , Toby," she smiled.

He shook his head.

"Well, that doesn't really mean anything 'cause she doesn't wanna date or anything," he said, sadly staring at the floor. "She made it clear several times that she thinks that we would be better off not holding each other back and cleanly parting ways after Hanna and Caleb's wedding day."

"And you believe her?" she asked.

Toby shrugged his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter what I believe. She's already made up her mind about this."

"So, is that why you invited Yvonne here? You're gonna try to move on with her?"

"No," he shook his head. "That wasn't my idea. In fact, I had no say in it whatsoever... Spencer saw that she sent me a text. She jumped pretty far and invited her to be my date without telling me. I only found out when Yvonne came up to me at the rehearsal dinner tonight. I guess... I guess Spencer thought that she was doing me a favor by helping me move on because Yvonne's in close proximity while there's the whole complicated distance thing with Spencer."

Emily smiled. "That's Spencer for ya... I do believe her, though. I think she loves you, too, but she doesn't want to make you sacrifice everything you have for her. She's the type of person to always put others' needs above her happiness. You know that better than anyone."

He knew that there was a truth to what she was saying, but he hated it. He wanted there to be some way out... some way to make things be easy with Spencer so that nobody had to sacrifice anything. But of course, he was left in this position, helpless and hopeless, probably never going to get the girl who he wanted most.

"Well, I don't know anymore, Em. I mean... what do I even have without her?" he asked, turning his head to look at the brunette sitting next to him. "Is it really a sacrifice, then?"

"Toby!" Emily cried incredulously. "You can't be serious... you have a whole life in Rosewood without her. You have friends, you have a job, you have a house... you have _me_. I know you might love her and all, and I'm happy that you do, but don't pretend like your life is worthless without her just because you want to believe that so you can justify leaving everything behind to be with her. It's not like she'd want that, anyway. She'd hate herself if you gave everything up for her."

Toby pressed his lips together. And he thought, maybe she had a point. He did have a life without her.

Feeling frustrated by this entire topic, Toby changed the subject, "So, how's the lady been treating you since I left? Has she snapped and went back to her whole bitch thing yet?"

Emily rolled her eyes, shoving him playfully.

"Shut the hell up, Toby," she grinned.

* * *

The next morning, everyone went down to eat the breakfast that the hotel was serving. Toby headed down after showering, but only dressed himself in a wife beater and sweatpants. When he went to where people were self-serving their breakfasts, he saw Spencer putting hash browns on to her plate. He smiled, slowly walking over to her. Once she was done serving herself the hash browns, she turned around. Startled when she saw him standing right there, she almost jumped and dropped her plate.

"Toby!" she cried.

"Hey," he greeted, smiling.

She furrowed her eyebrows, confused by his cheerful attitude, considering the argument that they had gotten into the prior night.

"Uh, hey..." she scratched her head. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I just, um... I wanted to apologize for exploding on you last night. I get that you were just trying to make this easier for all of us, and I really appreciate that."

"You do?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I do," he nodded his head, still smiling. "I also wanted to tell you that you were right about everything. I was getting a bit delusional because of everything that was happening between us. I just kept holding on to the idea that we could somehow make it work, despite the distance and the lives that we've built for ourselves in the places we're living right now."

She was stunned by how suddenly accepting he was of everything.

"Really?" she asked, shocked.

He chuckled, nodding his head again.

"Yeah, I'm serious, Spence," he said. "We're lucky that at least _one_ of us is able to think logically and practically. I have my own life and you have your own life. I don't wanna spend the rest of mine beating myself up because I gave up what I have, or you beating yourself up for giving up what you have. It really is better that we do this now before we get anymore hurt."

She really was surprised that he was being so calm and good about this, giving up everything already. A part of her was relieved that he didn't hate her for inviting Yvonne, but the other part of her was a little disappointed because he had suddenly given up on them. She didn't know what she wanted, but she figured she deserved this because she had been trying her hardest to push him away for a while now.

"Okay," she smiled, nodding her head back at him. "Friends now, then?"

"Friends," he agreed.

"Well, _friend_ , would you like to come sit with me and have some breakfast?" she asked, smiling widely.

"I would, but I, uh... I actually told Yvonne that I would eat breakfast with her this morning," he confessed, smiling at her guiltily. "You can join us, if you'd like."

Spencer pressed her lips together, feeling disappointed. She knew that she was the one who called Yvonne here to be his date, but she had no idea how much it would hurt when he really did pick Yvonne over her.

"No, no... that's okay. You two have fun," she said, smiling weakly now. "I will go eat with the other girls. We have much to catch up on, anyway."

"Okay," he nodded his head. "I'll see you later, Spence."

"See ya," she waved.

She watched him regretfully as he turned around and walked towards a grinning Yvonne, who had just emerged from the elevator. He pulled Yvonne into his arms, hugging her with a huge grin on his face as well. Her heart broke even more to see how happy he was with somebody else, as she had never seen him with Yvonne before. But she kept telling herself that it was for the better. Because it was, right? Toby would be with somebody who loved him a lot and could give her all to him and be with him because she was in the same town as him.


	9. Chapter 9

**You must hate me for my lack of updating skills, but believe me: I've got a lot going on, so I don't really have too much free time to write. But I tried to find some so that I could put the next chapter of this story together, so I hope that you guys enjoy it! And thank you all for leaving reviews... I'm so grateful that many of you are sticking with me and are still interested in following Spencer and Toby's journey in this story. Well, that's all I have to say for now, so here we go with the next chapter!**

Chapter 9

"You guys really pulled through with this," Hanna grinned as she held her champagne glass up high. She was seated with all of her friends in a nice loft her friends had rented for the night's party. "I really have the freaking best friends in the world, don't I?"

"I think you do," Emily smiled proudly, looking over at her blonde friend excitedly. "I mean, it was only right to throw you a _fun_ bachelorette party. You've been talking about having a really wild one since you were, like... _12_."

Hanna chuckled at the memory, shaking her head. She took a sip of her champagne before turning to her friends.

"Well, this is my last night as a free woman," Hanna said, sighing. "I better make the most of it. And I'll be so pissed if the guys are having more fun than we are."

"What are they even gonna do?" Alison scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Get strippers and drink?"

"Damn... _strippers_. Why didn't we think of that?" Emily chuckled.

"Who knows what the hell they're gonna do?" Aria laughed, shaking her head. "They better not get into too much trouble, though. Those boys are all in relationships."

"Yeah, well, lucky me," Emily grinned, putting her arm around her girlfriend. "I get to watch over her the whole night unlike the rest of you guys do with whoever you're with. You'll just have to keep hoping that they're being good."

"Excuse me? I think that _you're_ the one who needs to be watched over, Em," Alison smirked. "Everybody here knows how you get when you have too much to drink. You know she came back to our room drunk yesterday?"

"Seriously, Em?" Hanna rolled her eyes. "God, have some self control."

"I went to Toby's room and had a few drinks. Big deal. What do you think I'm gonna do? Sleep with him?" Emily scoffed. "If you guys remember, I'm _gay as hell_." The girls all laughed. Emily added, "Besides, he's all Sp—" She quickly stopped herself when she saw Spencer's widening eyes. "I mean, Yvonne's," she corrected herself.

Spencer was relieved she didn't finish her original statement, but she was pretty sure it was already obvious what Emily was trying to say. Aria, Hanna, and Alison were all looking at her with intrigued and confused expressions. But to make things even worse: Yvonne was sitting right there, looking beyond uncomfortable.

"Didn't they break up?" Yvonne asked, scrunching her eyebrows with suspicion.

"Y-yeah, we did," Spencer nodded her head. That wasn't a lie. They _did_ break up. And technically, they never really got back together. They just hooked up a few times... with some emotional strings attached. "A long, _long_ time ago. I guess Emily's had a lot to drink already and has no clue what she's saying."

"Right," Yvonne nodded her head, smiling weakly, but she didn't look like she bought it too much.

The girls were reluctant to invite Yvonne to the bachelorette party, but it was only right since Spencer invited her for the wedding. And Spencer didn't want to make her feel unwelcome, so she convinced the other girls to let her tag along, insisting that she was a really nice girl (although truthfully, Spencer didn't even know anything about her). But Emily supported that statement, and at least she actually knew Yvonne.

But Spencer was starting to think that inviting her was a bad idea, especially considering what Emily just slipped out. And things could get worse, considering they were probably going to play some revealing games. Spencer just hoped that the focus stayed on Hanna the entire night, since it was her bachelorette party, after all.

"Okay, well, why don't we get started with the activities?" Aria smiled, trying to change the subject. "What was it first?"

" _How well do you know the bachelorette_ ," Spencer supplied, grinning back at her tiny friend.

She saw Yvonne shift in her seat uncomfortably. Maybe she didn't want to be here, either. Spencer could only imagine how weird it felt to hang out with the friends of her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend... And now she was supposed to play some game answering questions about how well she knew Hanna when she didn't even know Hanna?

Aria grabbed a sheet from the table, holding it up.

"Okay, we'll start with... Spencer," Aria announced. "Your question is: where did Hanna first meet Caleb?"

Spencer pondered it for a moment before confidently answering, "He was weirdly following you around school all the time." She chuckled to herself, "Didn't he, like... want to get information about you for Jenna?"

Hanna glared at her brunette friend, rolling her eyes.

"Are we really bringing that up?" she asked, holding her glare.

"Hey, I was just answering the question honestly and correctly," Spencer laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. "And if you can't accept your past with him, then why the hell are you even marrying him?"

Hanna rolled her eyes again, shaking her head, "The better answer would've just been to say that I met him at school in one of my classes, but... Okay, next question, please."

Spencer snickered, shaking her head, somewhat pleased with her response. Hanna grabbed the paper from Aria's hands, smiling at the tiny girl.

"Okay, Aria... your question is: what's my drink of choice?" she asked, staring intently at the tiny girl.

Aria pressed her hands to her chin, thinking about it for a moment. "You... you always go for a Cosmo."

"You know it," Hanna grinned. "One point for Aria. And I'm not sure if I should even give Spencer a point for her answer."

"Excuse me, I wasn't wrong!" Spencer argued, folding her arms. "My answer was accurate, even if it wasn't phrased in the way that you wanted it to be. I just gave a few more details beyond 'we met at school.'"

"Yeah, fine... whatever," Hanna chuckled. "You both get a point." The blonde turned to Alison next, "I get it if you can't answer the question. I mean, you kinda disappeared for a few years of our lives."

Alison rolled her eyes, "Ha-ha, very funny. But true."

Hanna glanced at the paper with a grin, asking, "What was my first concert? Oh... you should know this one. You were around when I went."

Alison pressed her lips together, thinking. "Was it that Justin Bieber concert? Not gonna lie, I was really jealous of you at the time..."

Hanna laughed, nodding her head, "Yeah, it was. Good job, Ali. That went better than I thought it would." She then turned to Emily, "Okay Em... _who was my first kiss_? A big question."

Yvonne had no clue what any of this was, and she really did feel left out. But she figured that was what she was going to get when she went to the bachelorette party of a girl she didn't even know. She was going to turn down the offer when Spencer asked (she even gave her a "we'll see"), but after talking with a very persistent Toby, she was persuaded to go. He really wanted her to go so that she could try to "fit in" with the other girls, but she didn't see a point in fitting in with them. She was never going to see any of them again, aside from Emily and Alison.

"Sean Ackard, of course!" Emily exclaimed, on the verge of howling with laughter.

Soon, the group of girls did just that: laughed wildly, recalling Hanna's high school relationship with this popular kid named Sean Ackard. Yvonne, of course, had no clue who he was.

"Yvonne," Emily turned to the girl, "Sean is this guy that Hanna dated in high school. He was your basic white popular boy, but there's a twist: he was _super_ religious and _didn't_ want to have sex. It was like... backwards for all the sleazy guys at our high school who always wanted to have sex."

"Yeah, I was trying so hard to throw myself at him, but he didn't want to do anything," Hanna laughed. "Good thing I found somebody who did."

"Caleb?" Yvonne smiled, and Hanna nodded her head.

"Who else did you even date in high school?" Alison suddenly asked. "I guess this is the part I missed out on... I left during the Sean Ackard era and returned in the middle of that battle between Caleb and the cowboy for your love."

"The cowboy?" Hanna scrunched her eyebrows, but then started laughing. " _Oh_! I know who you're talking about... _Travis_. He was such a nice guy!"

"Travis, right," Aria chuckled. "I always liked that guy."

"But you like Caleb better, right?" Hanna grinned.

"Of course," Aria smiled. "He's the one who makes you the happiest, so how could I not?"

Hanna stayed smiling. "Okay, I'll list off the guys that I dated in high school. You all better do the same thing after me... It'll be more fun that way." She stared up at the ceiling, trying to recall all her romances. "Sean was my first boyfriend, then I dated Caleb for a while... then we broke up... but then we got back together... and then we broke up again... _oh_ , and then I kissed Wren. Yeah, that was weird... Then I got back together with Caleb, but then we broke up again... then I think I kissed... _Detective Holbrook_... yikes. Okay, and then it was Travis. And then we broke up, so I started dating Caleb again. And I think that's it for high school." Hanna scratched her head, "Wow, I'm just realizing that we broke up _a lot_."

Aria laughed, shaking her head, "Yeah, I don't think you broke up more times than Ezra and I did, but whatever. I won't even go into things... I'll just list them. Ezra, Noel Kahn... then I had a thing with Jason for a while— don't kill me, Ali." Alison chuckled, shaking her head. Aria continued, "Oh, then I had a small thing with Ezra's brother Wesley, but... that ended quickly. And then I dated that cute martial arts instructor Jake for a while."

"He was _really_ cute," Hanna commented.

"Yeah, he was," Aria chuckled. "Anyways, I had a fling with this guy named Riley on a college tour. You guys don't know him, though."

"Damn, Aria," Alison raised her eyebrows.

Aria shrugged her shoulders, "The list isn't over yet." She sighed, "Just one more: I dated Andrew Campbell for a while since he was tutoring me."

"That was amazing," Emily commented. "I would applaud you, but... I think I win. Let's do this: Ben, Alison, Maya, Paige, Samara, Talia, Sara... I don't know if I should count Nate."

Alison shook her head, "I didn't want to hear that."

"Well, I was thinking about you the whole time," Emily smoothly said, leaning in and stealing a short kiss from her girlfriend.

" _Wow_ ," Spencer commented, grinning. "I'm still not used to seeing the two of you together. It's cute."

Emily chuckled, "Well, thanks..."

"Come on, Spence, it's _your_ turn now," Hanna jabbed her finger in the brunette's face, almost causing her to fall back.

"Mine? Ali hasn't even gone yet," Spencer bit her lip.

Normally, she wouldn't mind having these kinds of talks with her friends, but _Yvonne_ was right there. The last thing she wanted to do was dive into her romantic history when Toby was most certainly involved in that.

"Okay, I'll go first," Alison chuckled. "Um... Emily, of course." She blushed heavily as she continued, "Ian, Ezra, Detective Wilden, Detective Holbrook, Cyrus, Lorenzo, and... I think that's it. Thankfully."

Emily scratched her head, "I didn't want to hear that, either. I'd rather not be reminded of... _them_."

"Well, I was thinking about you the whole time, too," Alison smoothly paralleled, leaning in and pecking her girlfriend's lips.

" _Your turn_!" Hanna excitedly exclaimed, turning back to Spencer.

Spencer rolled her eyes, "Okay, um... Ian, Wren, Alex, Toby, this guy named Jonny... and also this guy named Colin, but... they weren't _really_. I just kissed them." She said the names as quickly as possible, wanting her turn to end, but she felt Yvonne's eyes on her ever since she said Toby's name.

It wasn't like Yvonne _didn't_ know that she dated Toby before. But maybe it was rough to be reminded of that while she was working on rebuilding their relationship. She also thought that their relationship ended entirely a little while after she graduated from high school. Little did she know, they crossed paths again during this whole wedding planning ordeal and wound up in a very sticky situation.

"We were all over the place in high school," Hanna suddenly commented, picking up her champagne glass again. "I'm glad we've all started settling down..." She glanced over at Spencer, immediately biting her lip, "I mean, _most_ of us. There's nothing wrong with not being in a relationship, of course. Spencer's married to her career."

Spencer laughed weakly. Was that really what she was? The no fun, no relationship girl who only cared about her career? That was what her parents were like, and it always haunted her. They only cared about their jobs; they lacked a heart when it came to their romance and they certainly didn't pay much attention to their children... well, at least _one_ of their children. They only cared about getting a flawless report card in the mail and ultimately acceptance letters from prestigious universities. She was already a bit of a disappointment when she got rejected from UPenn, since that was the family's legacy school (Melissa had attended and was now extremely successful), but they came around to Georgetown since it was also a really good school.

Spencer had always thought she was better than them. She thought she learned how to put the people she cared about above everything; she learned that success wasn't all about careers and material things—or at least she _thought_ she did. But it felt like once she went to college, she hit the reset button and started prioritizing her career with a drive similar to her parents. And there was nothing wrong with being ambitious and wanting to be successful, but she wondered if that was all worth giving up somebody she loved.

But she shook off the thoughts. It was too late to be considering taking a chance with Toby. He finally came around to the idea of them not giving their relationship another try, and he seemed to be happily working on things with Yvonne again, despite his initial protests at the rehearsal dinner.

"God, will somebody make me a _Cosmo_?" Hanna whined.

"I will, since it's your night," Emily gave in, standing up from where she was sitting. "And you know I've got a few tricks up my sleeves. While I was at Pepperdine, I was also working at a bar. I know all about making good drinks."

"I love you, Emily Fields," Hanna grinned. She turned to Alison as Emily walked to the kitchen area, "Sorry, Ali. I'm not trying to steal your girl."

Alison rolled her eyes, "Trust me: I don't see you as a threat."

Hanna crossed her arms, "You're a bitch."

Alison smiled proudly, shrugging her shoulders. After a little bit, Emily returned with a fabulous looking Cosmo in her hand, handing it to the bride-to-be, who gladly accepted. She then walked over to where the TV was, shoving something into the DVD player.

"What's this?" Hanna asked curiously.

Emily smiled, "Well, since I couldn't be here for the wedding planning—which Spencer and Toby so kindly took charge of—I decided I'd put together a little something for your bachelorette party... some memories from the early days."

Hanna laughed as the TV screen started displaying images for a few seconds each. There were quite a few pictures of Hanna and Caleb when they were younger, hugging and kissing affectionately in different places.

"Oh my God, we look so small..." Hanna chuckled.

"You guys are so cute," Aria gushed. "Suddenly I'm so much more excited for this wedding."

Spencer was enjoying the slideshow video, watching it with a huge smile on her face. It was nice to revisit her old good times. Although a lot of her high school memories were consumed by A, she still had a lot of good ones for some reason. And Emily had managed to find some very perfect pictures, since not all of them were just Hanna and Caleb.

Suddenly, a short video started playing on the screen. All the girls grinned widely.

 _"We are heading out to_ Myrtle Beach _!" A teenage Hanna excitedly exclaimed on the screen while Caleb was standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her. She moving her camera around her face vlog-style. She pouted her lips together, making a cute face before rotating the camera to the others. "Senior summer trip, baby!"_

 _The camera rotated first to show Aria, Emily, and Alison holding up peace signs, dressed in their swimsuits while they were walking towards the sandy beach. Then, Hanna rotated the camera even more so that it turned to Spencer, who was holding hands with Toby. The two of them were sharing a short kiss before they noticed that Hanna's phone camera was on them._

 _"Turn that off!" Spencer rolled her eyes._

 _Hanna laughed, turning the camera back to herself and Caleb._

 _"We are very excited to spend some time together here_ _—" Hanna started before she was cut off by Caleb leaning in to kiss her lips, cupping her cheeks gently. He grinned into the kiss, and Hanna started laughing into it._

 _"The video..." he quietly said between kisses. "...can wait."_

 _With that said, Hanna finally shut her phone's video camera off, and the screen cut to black again._

As more photos started displaying on the TV screen, Emily scratched her head awkwardly because she saw that Yvonne was visibly uncomfortable from the video.

"Um, I probably should've cut some of that video out..." she admitted, swallowing hard.

"No, I think it was fine. I _love_ that video," Hanna gushed.

* * *

Later that night, the girls were blasting music off of speakers in the room, dancing around there like no one was watching. Hanna, who was already quite a few drinks deep, was standing on the couch, throwing her arms up in the air, waving them around and shaking her body to the rhythm of the music (or at least what she _believed_ the rhythm was). Emily, who was a skilled dancer (she had taken lessons when she was younger, after all) was moving perfectly to the music. Alison was a pretty good dancer, but she wasn't doing her best work since she was too mesmerized by the way her girlfriend's body was moving to the music. Aria was dancing, but was also laughing at the sight of how much fun Hanna was having.

And then there was Spencer, awkwardly swaying in a corner. She wanted to have a better time, but Yvonne (who was also awkwardly, minimally swaying in the other corner of the room) seemed like she was judging her the whole time.

Finally, during one of the songs, Yvonne approached Spencer with a somewhat serious expression on her face.

"Hey, Spencer," the girl greeted, forcing a smile.

"Oh! H-hey, Yvonne," Spencer forced a smile back. "Can I help you with something? Are you having a good time?"

"Yeah, sure..." Yvonne forcefully nodded her head. "I just wanted to talk to you about something—I wanted to clear the air."

"Um, okay... go ahead," Spencer nodded her head back, encouraging the other girl to get on with it.

"You and Toby," she started, biting her lip. "You guys are over, right? Completely?"

Spencer was startled, almost jumping back.

"Y-yeah, we're over. We're _years_ over," the taller girl nervously replied.

"Okay, good," Yvonne smiled. "I was just getting kind of... paranoid, to be honest. It was weird to hear you talk about your relationship with him, and I saw you guys kissing in that video, and... I don't know. I know all that stuff is years old, but sometimes my head likes to mess with me."

"Well, you've got nothing to worry about—I can assure you," Spencer smiled weakly. "Toby and I are finally getting back on friendly terms because we had to help Hanna and Caleb with their wedding planning. It's really nothing. He wants _you_ to be his date to the wedding after all, doesn't he?"

That seemed to reassure Yvonne. She nodded her head again.

"You're right. I don't know why I was getting so worried. I guess it's just because it's been a while since we were together, and I'm kinda unsure about how he feels about me," Yvonne shrugged her shoulders. "But thank you. You're a really big help. And... thank you for taking it upon yourself to invite me. He might've not had the guts to do that, but you did."

"Of course!" Spencer exclaimed. "I want him to be happy. And I think you make him really happy, Yvonne."

"You think so?" she smiled, and Spencer nodded her head.

"Yeah, I do," the taller girl said. "Now, why don't you stop worrying about him and just have a good time tonight? He's probably drinking his ass off and getting wild at Caleb's bachelor party."

* * *

"God, Aria would _kill_ me if she knew what we were doing!" Ezra cried with panic in his eyes, but his eyes were still glued on the woman in front of him, who was doing some serious bends while teasingly pulling her shirt over her head.

The woman circled her hips, throwing her hands in the air, moving slowly and seductively. All the boys couldn't stop watching the way she moved. She ran her hands down her sides slowly, licking her lips, making eye contact with each boy for a brief second.

"Is it wrong of me to watch this?" Caleb bit his lip, but couldn't stop watching either. "I—I mean, I love Hanna and she's the only woman I ever want to touch, but—we're here now, aren't we? And... _damn_."

Toby brought a beer bottle to his lips, taking a large sip of it, then relaxing back on the couch.

"Yeah, you guys have to fret, but _I_ don't. I'm a single man. I'm allowed to watch this," he grinned.

Not moving his eyes away from the female stripper in the living room of Hanna and Caleb's house, Caleb rolled his eyes and reminded, "You might not be _in_ a relationship, but you're in the middle of some jacked up love triangle with Yvonne and Spencer. Is that _really_ any better than just being in one relationship? Now you've got _two_ girls who are gonna yell at you for watching this."

Toby groaned, setting his beer bottle down.

"Well, damn... you know how to make a guy feel bad," he sighed.

Ezra finally tore his eyes away from the woman, glancing at Toby, "Love triangle, huh?"

"That's not what it is. Shut the hell up, Caleb," Toby rolled his eyes.

One of Caleb's other friends named Matthew was also attending the bachelor party and loudly said, "Will you _all_ shut the hell up? I'm trying to watch this thing."

With that said, the boys all started watching the woman again.

* * *

"Who the hell has their bachelorette party _after_ the rehearsal dinner?" A drunk Spencer laughed, laying down on the floor of the loft. "And who the hell has their rehearsal dinner days before the actual wedding?"

"I was trying to make schedules that worked for everyone, Hastings. And you're my wedding planner—you're supposed to fix this kind of crap," Hanna groaned. She massaged her temples lightly, "God, I need another freaking drink."

"No, you don't," Emily huffed. "You really don't. But I do."

"You're the worst when you're drunk, Em," Hanna rolled her eyes. "I'm bad—but I'm not as bad as you."

"We're all bad," Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

"Some are worse than others," Aria honestly admitted. "And I'd definitely say that Emily and Hanna are a lot worse than the rest of us."

Emily rolled her eyes. All of the girls were laying on the floor after dancing too much and having way too many drinks. Emily shrugged her shoulders at the criticism before leaning over and crashing her lips against Alison's, kissing her roughly. The blonde was drunk, but was conscious enough to know what was happening—and she was aware that Emily's bad drunken side was coming out. But it was hard to stop Emily when she was shoving her tongue inside of the blonde's mouth, wrapping her arms around the girl, bringing her hands down to grip her girlfriend's ass.

"Um, I think Emily wins..." Aria muttered. "She gets... _handsy_."

Alison pulled back, holding Emily close, but trying to keep her from kissing her.

"Um, I think you'd _all_ get handsy if you had your boy toys here with you," Alison reminded.

"That's true," Hanna grinned. "If Caleb were here, I'd freaking wanna rip his clothes off right now—"

"That's freaking _fantastic_ ," Spencer huffed.

"Mmm, wouldn't you wanna rip Toby's clothes off, Spence?" Hanna teased. Her slurring voice continued, "Don't think I'm stupid, Spence. I know there's something... _w-weird_ with you two. I'm trying to be patient, but _damn_ you two are always having eye sex... in _my_ house! I can only imagine what you two do when me n' Caleb go to work—"

" _Hanna_ ," Spencer sternly stopped her, feeling her throat go dry. She was drunk and all, but she was conscious enough to know that what Hanna was saying was damn dangerous, and that Yvonne was listening.

And Yvonne was the only one of them who hadn't had too much to drink. She had one glass of wine, but that was about it. She was sober and conscious and probably freaking the hell out because of what Hanna said. She probably thought that Spencer was one big, fat liar who tried to falsely reassure her about her relationship with Toby earlier. Spencer was mentally slapping herself for not stopping Hanna the moment she talked about ripping Toby's clothes off.

"S-she has no idea what she's saying," Spencer apologetically said, turning to Yvonne.

"No way!" Hanna shook her head. "I might've had a few—okay, maybe _a lot_ —of drinks, but Hanna knows what Hanna means. I always stick by that statement!"

"Okay, Hanna wins worst drunk," Spencer tried to joke, but felt the tension from the way Yvonne was staring at her.

She didn't say anything back, but she seemed annoyed.

Spencer glanced at Emily (who she figured clearly knew something about what happened with Toby via Toby's drunken ass), worried that she was going to spill something while she was drunk, too. But luckily, Emily was too consumed with her lips on Alison's neck to even know what was going on with Hanna and Yvonne. Aria, who had been constantly yawning earlier, had finally crashed on the floor. Spencer didn't think Aria knew anything, anyways. Besides, Aria wasn't even too drunk. Well, at least it wasn't as bad as Hanna and Emily's states...

* * *

The next morning, the girls woke up quite late (which was expected, considering they all went to bed quite late and had quite a bit to drink, too). Spencer's body ached as she peeled her hungover body off the floor of the loft, trying her hardest to stand up straight. Her whole body was sore from the way she fell asleep on the floor, but she managed to get herself up and wobble into the kitchen. She hurriedly reached for a glass, filling it up with water from the tap and chugging it down to ease the throbbing pain in her body.

Yvonne was already awake. She didn't have much to drink, so she seemed fine, sitting up straight and reading a book on the couch of the loft. When she heard Spencer in the kitchen, she set her book down and came to join the taller girl.

"Yvonne!" Spencer exclaimed, almost choking on her water as she set the glass down on the counter. "Good morning!"

"Morning," Yvonne faked a smile.

Spencer yawned, rubbing her eyes, "Um, I should probably head back to the hotel soon. We don't have this loft forever. Maybe we should wake the other girls up soon."

Yvonne nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah."

Spencer swallowed hard. Finally, she asked, "Is everything okay?"

She didn't know why she asked because she felt like she was inviting conflict in, but the way Yvonne was looking at her made it feel wrong to _not_ ask if anything was wrong. Although, she really, really didn't want to hear anything about what happened the night before. She couldn't remember everything, but Hanna's blurting definitely stuck in her brain... maybe permanently.

"Relatively," she replied, nodding her head. "Hanna said some weird stuff last night."

"Did she?" Spencer smiled weakly. "I mean, she was pretty crazily drunk. We all were. She probably had no idea what she was even saying."

"I don't know," Yvonne sighed. "It felt like she did."

Spencer pressed her lips together, choosing not to say anything else. The expression on Yvonne's face said it all: Yvonne had already made up her mind about this matter—she already knew what she wanted to say and had formed her own accusations and opinions about this subject. Spencer could tell that she wasn't trying to politely ask if what Hanna said was true... it wasn't like yesterday when she was politely asking about her relationship with Toby. This time, she knew what she wanted to say.

"Look, I don't know what's going on with you and Toby. I don't," Yvonne confessed, sighing. "Maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing, maybe it _was_ something before but now it's not. It doesn't matter as long as he's with me now. And fine, you clearly don't want to let me in on what's actually happening. You can protect yourself. But I'm being clear: I don't want you getting in the way of our relationship this time. Whatever you had with Toby is over now. I'm kindly asking you to back off and just give us space to be together, because you know that's what he needs. How do you expect him to get over you if you're always lingering around... _trying_ things with him?"

"That's not what—" Spencer started. She blinked a few times, but she didn't understand anything. So many things were confusing her. Especially when she said _this time_. What the hell did that mean? Did she get in the way of their relationship _last time_? Because from what she could recall, she wasn't even in sight at the time of their last relationship.

"You don't have to keep pretending like there's nothing. I'm not a dumb girl—I can sense when something's off. Spare me the lies, please," Yvonne chuckled bitterly, shaking her head. "Just be a mature person and give him up already, because you're clearly not willing to be with him. But I want to be—I want to give him everything. You can't give him that. I know you can't. So, why don't you let somebody who wants him completely have him?"

Spencer swallowed hard, looking at Yvonne with wide eyes. Yvonne wasn't talking to her _ferociously_ or anything, but it still was stinging for some reason. It still felt threatening and menacing even if she wasn't trying to be. She was clearly just trying to be frank and get her point across, but it came off a lot scarier than her intentions.

* * *

 **That's a wrap for the ninth chapter of the story! Personally, I think things are heating up even if Spencer and Toby's romance started cooling down. I mean, most of chapter was a bit of fun times at the bachelor/bachelorette parties (mostly bachelorette), but there were some intense moments in there (like Yvonne's final confrontation... yikes!). I'm excited for where things are going to go... things are going to start coming to a head with the wedding rapidly approaching!**

 **I know this chapter was somewhat light in terms of plot, but I thought these parties with some subtle drama (and some Yvonne jealousy) would be fun. There will definitely be Spencer/Toby scenes in the next chapter.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will stop with this length post-chapter note. Leave a review!**


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